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Dom Hans van der Laan and the Plastic Number

In: Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future

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  • Richard Padovan

Abstract

The plastic number discovered by Dom Hans van der Laan differs from all previous systems of architectural proportions in several fundamental ways. Its derivation from a cubic equation (rather than a quadratic one such as that which defines the golden section) is a response to the three-dimensionality of our world. Its basic ratios, approximately 3:4 and 1:7, are determined by the lower and upper limits of our normal ability to perceive differences of size among three-dimensional objects. Proportion plays a crucial role in generating architectonic space, which comes into being through the proportional relations of the solid forms that delimit it. Architectonic space might therefore be described as a proportion between proportions.

Suggested Citation

  • Richard Padovan, 2015. "Dom Hans van der Laan and the Plastic Number," Springer Books, in: Kim Williams & Michael J. Ostwald (ed.), Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, edition 127, chapter 0, pages 407-419, Springer.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-00143-2_27
    DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_27
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