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From Cosmic City to Esoteric Cinema: Pythagorean Mathematics and Design in Australia

In: Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future

Author

Listed:
  • Graham Pont

  • Peter Proudfoot

Abstract

Pythagorean design in Australia began with the international competition for the plan of Canberra (1912). The winning entry by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was a visionary scheme for a cosmic city formed on a St Andrew’s cross suggested by the natural topography. At the crossing of the principal ‘Land’ and ‘Water’ axes they described a circle of a mile radius, thus forming the fundamental mandala of the new Federal Capital. The formative circle crosses the Land Axis at the parliamentary complex on Capital Hill and the people’s Casino (now the site of the Australian War Memorial). Additional circles of the same radius, centred on these two sites, complete the major ‘Pythagorean Triad’. A similar Triad connects the proposed three centres of government on Capital Hill. In their design for the Capitol Theatre (completed 1924) the Griffins employed the same Pythagorean geometry and esoteric symbolism.

Suggested Citation

  • Graham Pont & Peter Proudfoot, 2015. "From Cosmic City to Esoteric Cinema: Pythagorean Mathematics and Design in Australia," Springer Books, in: Kim Williams & Michael J. Ostwald (ed.), Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 355-366, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-00143-2_23
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_23
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