Beauty,Golden Ratio and Optical Illusion

and their effect on Architecture

 Table of Contents

01 02 03
Beauty Golden Optical
Ratio Illusion
• Aesthetics is a science that examines the conditions, standards and theories of
beauty, artistic taste, and the provisions of values relating to artistic relics, a
section of philosophy. It has two sections: a general theoretical section, and a
special practical section. The general theoretical section examines the common
qualities of beautiful things that generate a sense of beauty, defines the
conditions that are philosophically distinct, and explains the nature of beauty in
an explanation that analyzes this feeling psychologically sweetened by the
beautiful from the ugly... The special practical section examines various images of
art and criticizes its individual models.
 [Link]
• Definition of beauty: The word beauty has its origin in Greece, and
it refers to the science related to sensation or the science of
recognizing things through the senses, and it is known as
(aesthetics) as well as the philosophy of art. Beauty is what Hegel
said about him as the gentle genie we encounter everywhere, and
in the past beauty was a branch of philosophy, until the
philosopher Bumgarten came, and distinguished between
aesthetics and the rest of knowledge.

• Beauty and Art: Beauty is always confused with art despite their
proximity to each other, but beauty is different from art in terms of
sensual and existential matters, beauty is not sensual but relates
more to emotional matters or feelings.
• Beauty is classified into 2 categories :
A) Physical beauty: it is the sensory beauty that is aware of human senses of
beauty in nature, humans or other things that can be physically seen and verified,
and in the consistency and organization of things as prepared by some philosophers
as forms of physical beauty. Some also promise that physical beauty is relative, what
some see as beautiful may be seen by others as ugly and so on, so physical beauty is
not at all, and can be fulfilled with the aging of time, but sometimes it may be
associated with moral beauty.
B) Moral beauty: Moral beauty has a deeper and more comprehensive meaning
than material beauty and greater multiplicity, it carries in its meanings lofty
meanings such as morality, values, honesty and many other things and its
permanence is greater than purely material beauty, and moral beauty is absolutely
undeniable in accordance with good human nature, but its vision from other angles
makes it enter into the scope of relativity and opinions according to ideas.
Philosophers' beauty theories:
• Pythagorean theory in the concept of beauty: Pythagoreanism
is a philosophy that differentiates between the level of existence
and the level of existence perceived, says the duality of the soul
and body, and has developed ten encounters, examples of good
and evil, i.e. they formulated philosophical ideas in mathematical
form.

• Gorgias' theory of beauty: Gorgias' theory is based on the role

of artistic beauty that influences human sense; the arts offer the
human soul a sensory pleasure;

• Socrates's theory of beauty: Socrates does not care about

sensual beauty as much as he cares about the beauty of the soul
and morality.

• Plato's Beauty Theory: Plato's beauty can be reduced to divine

love, because the theme of love is beauty in particular, and he
believes that the arts take their beauty from their simulation of
nature, although this simulation is incomplete as an attempt to
reach the ideal world.
 Beauty and Symmetry:
• Symmetry: is a kind of balance of harmony and • One of the best examples of this symmetry is the
proportionality. In all objects there is symmetry and human body. Each half of the human body, whether
balance. This has been demonstrated by engineering right or left, is a reflection of the other half. Internally,
and physics. Gravity is an important factor in natural it's different. The inner body organs do not reflect
symmetry. This is why most things in nature evolve each other's halves. There are many types of
towards symmetry. That's why we see beauty in reflective symmetry (binary) in nature, such as
symmetry. horizontal symmetry (which is most common),
The most common type of symmetry is reflexive vertical, diagonal etc.
symmetry. Which is also known as binary symmetry.
This basically means having 'two identical halves'.
That is, if you fold the object on its middle axis, you'll
notice that both sides are already identical halves.
Nature is full of examples of binary symmetry such
as butterflies, leaves, marine life, etc. It shows this
form of symmetry. Almost all plant life and animals
show this kind of symmetry. There's only a little that
doesn't enjoy binary symmetry. Of course, the binary
symmetry of nature is approximate, and the halves
do not match perfectly when folded on their middle
axis.
Beauty and Balance:
• Balance: It is the distribution of shapes and contents in the Third: Sensory balance: there is
design in a visually balanced way so that all opposite or sometimes a balance that is felt that is not
opposite sides are equal in the foundations of the balance that governed by any of the laws but is just a
follow. feeling of balance in the same scenes.
Size: There is no one who has more, bigger or bigger
content than the opposite side.
Color: Colors in the sides are consistent or symmetrical.
Location: It should not be, for example, a shape close to the
middle and the opposite shape is close to the end.
Opposite general form: The number of elements is close or
even, i.e. the one whose content is more visually heavier.
• Balance has many types.
First: Analog balance: The shape is made up of two or more
halves similar in shape, The shapes between the two ends of
the axis so that each axis side balances the other.
Second: Asymmetric balance: is the situation in which the
balance appears without the perfect match between the
two sides there may be a difference in shape, size or color
 Beauty in Architecture:
Beauty, according to Vitruvias, is achieved when the building or parts of
the building achieve the function for which it was designed, with a clear
and explicit structural efficiency in the proportions and parts of the
building, and are these parts carrying or structurally portable parts. This
honesty in the structural expression was called by Raskin in one of his
seven beacons of architecture: the beacon of honesty. If we add that there
is no part that has no function or part that we need to add in order to
achieve this honesty of expression, we are approaching Alberti's concept of
unity and architectural beauty.

History of beauty in ancient architecture:

1)Beauty in Pharaonic architecture: Beauty in Pharaonic architecture was
represented by the large scale and the magnitude of the construction, and
therefore value and greatness, and was associated with typical divine
human standards, beauty was associated with the fine details of large
sculptures and simple instruments capable of producing more than the size
of the human to the size of God, used basic axes and entrances with
columns and multiple sculptures, where the beauty of the symptoms was
associated with confirmation of greatness
2) Beauty in Roman architecture: Influenced by Greek architecture
and the architecture of the Atroski homeland, it was a mix of Greek
columns and Atroski contracts.
The use of concrete has led to a tremendous development in
architecture:
Huge buildings were never possible before.
Large numbers of temples public buildings.
New methods of building walls by pouring on brick cladding.
Their architecture is strong, hard, big and great and reflects what the
empire was like in its temple.
The roman architectural styles put two new columns: the Tuscan
column that resembles the league, but it is free of decorations,
vertical channels and the composite column that combines the
specifications of the Ionian column and the Corinthian column, and
the models of Roman architecture have varied, they were not limited
to the construction of temples as in Greek architecture column but
included :
Form: It is a square in the middle of the city surrounded by temples
and official buildings.
Roman temples.
The Basilica, meaning the Royal Hall.
3)Beauty in Greek architecture : Greek architecture has been characterized
by its precise details, logical and consistent proportions, which is its
beauty, it is rich in engraved decorations and distinct in bright colors, and
has been used stone plastered without the use of the material of truth in its
construction. Greek architecture has a third model, relative to the columns
used to build in its buildings.
Features of Greek architecture: in the presentation of architectural beauty
- The old works are heavy with large stones, piles and stone thresholds.
-The works were superior precision, care of proportions and greatness in
detail, and were the most accurate architecture known to the world, and
inspired the eras - correction of the deception of sight - simple horizontal
catches - a solid creation of thick walls without mortar.
- The temples retained a sophisticated construction with wood as they
were smaller than one or a few rooms and were decorated from the
outside.
- Slanted ceilings with wooden corridors covered with marble pallets - rare
use of windows.
- The use of columns constantly in the distinctive third models (Doric-
Alioni- Corinthian) - frequent use of mold ornaments - statues, pits and
delicate decorations in which tasting and refinement - coloring buildings
whiteness and paint - private houses of one floor whose rooms surround a
courtyard
4) Beauty in Islamic architecture: Beauty lies in Islamic
architecture using geometric motifs in enormous variations,
which are geometrically based and contain with them on
geometric foundations, proportions and cross networks very
precise and complex, in addition to creativity with built-up
plant decorations On the basis of engineering and frequent
networks, The Islamic architecture emphasized the inner
beauty of the building more than its external beauty, and was
creative in the use of bows, columns, tiling, windows and
wooden doors precise details and in different ways and forms

•Rhythm in Buildings: The rhythm in architecture can be

defined as the existence of a set of toned systems of lines,
spaces, blocks, decorations and colors, these elements include
the basic principle of the idea of repetition, which is one of the
instruments regulating blocks and voids in architecture that
interfere in the formation of all types of buildings with their
repetitive elements.
•Stability and balance in Buildings:
Architectural stability and balance are one of the
most important foundations of aesthetic artistic
composition, as it gives the viewer a sense of the
beauty of the building. Psychological comfort and
stability are achieved when the construction of the
building is designed in a stable and balanced manner
on the ground; The use of symmetry also gives a
sense of balance so that the building is divided into
two perfectly symmetrical sections and this symmetry
can be within one or several blocks so that the
building is divided into a middle mass and side wings
are low or high. Ancient Greek temples and all the
way to contemporary architecture. This method was
used extensively in ancient Greek temples and all the
way to contemporary architecture.
[Link] Ratio
1)Typography and defining hierarchy:
Golden ratio, also known as the golden section, golden mean,
or divine proportion, in mathematics, the irrational number (1 +
Square root of√5)/2, often denoted by the Greek letter ϕ or τ,
which is approximately equal to 1.618. It is the ratio of a line
segment cut into two pieces of different lengths such that the
ratio of the whole segment to that of the longer segment is
equal to the ratio of the longer segment to the shorter
segment. The origin of this number can be traced back to
Euclid, who mentions it as the “extreme and mean ratio” in the
Elements. In terms of present day algebra, letting the length of
the shorter segment be one unit and the length of the longer
segment be x units gives rise to the equation (x + 1)/x = x/1;
this may be rearranged to form the quadratic equation x2 – x –
1 = 0, for which the positive solution is x = (1 + Square root
of√5)/2, the golden ratio.
2)Cropping and Resizing:
The Golden Ratio can help you figure out what size font
you should use for headers and body copy on a website,
landing page, blog post, or even print campaign.
Let’s say your body copy is 12px. If you multiply 12 by
1.618, you’ll get 19.416, meaning a header text size of
19px or 20px would follow the Golden Ratio and
balance the 12px body font size.
If you want to figure out how big your body text size
should be, you could do the opposite. If your header text
is 25px, you can divide it by 1.618 to find the body text
(15 or 16 px).
3)Layout:
Leveraging the Golden Ratio can help you design a
visually appealing UI that draws the user’s attention to
what matters the most. For example, a page that
highlights a wide block of content on the left with a
narrower column on the right can follow the Golden
Ratio’s proportions and help you decide where to put
the most important content.

4)Logo development:
If you’re designing a new logo and feeling stuck, turn
to the Golden Ratio to help you sketch out the
proportions and shapes. Many popular logos follow
the Golden Ratio, like Twitter, Apple, and Pepsi.
Golden Ratio in Architecture:
Documents from the Middle Age clearly state the use of the
golden ratio in Architecture. Actually, medieval builders of
churches and cathedrals approached the design of their
buildings using pentagons and pentagrams –two geometric
shapes strongly linked with Phi as basic tools for their works.
Gothic roses are perfect examples of these.

During the Renaissance, Italian scholars and architects such as

Luca Pacioli and Leon Battista Alberti promoted the use of the
golden ratio also called divine proportion, referring to the
human body proportions. In Spain, the front of the University of
Salamanca has been designed according to the golden ratio.
Contemporary architecture shows many examples of the use of
the golden ratio.
The Guggenheim museum in New York was designed by the
American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in the20th century. It is
shaped like the golden spiral- a geometric interpretation of the
golden number.
Le Corbusier as for him was influenced by the Italian
Renaissance architects, reviving the human body
proportions linked with the golden ratio. He created the
Modulor, a new system of measures intended to
architecture in opposition to the metric system that he
considered did not fit to human scale. Actually proportions
in buildings were copied from the ideal human body
proportions
The most important examples of architecture found to have the
Golden Ratio:
-The Notre Dame cathedral’s western face
-The length to width ratio of the columns of the Parthenon in Greece.
-The Eden Project in St. Austell in South Western England is one of
the most famous buildings designed using the Fibonacci series .It is
in essence a series of greenhouses that are based on geodesic
domes.
-Another core structure, the Great Wall of China, also has some key Golden Ratio
attributes in the columns that are placed intermittently across its length
-The basis of this is not known, and might be as controversial as the presence of the
ratio in
the Pyramids of Giza. In the latter, it is known that ancient Egyptians viewed the
pyramids as
more than tombs and placed a lot of significance in their design and architecture
The application of the Golden Ratio in
architecture and by extension the arts is
based on
the idea that it is more pleasing to the
human eye and creates a harmony that is
almost perfect.
Although the scientific basis of this claim
has been disputed, the golden ratio is
unarguably
important in important works of
architecture.
[Link] Illusion
Optical illusions, more appropriately known as visual illusions,
involves visual deception. Due to the arrangement of images, the
effect of colors, the impact of light source or other variables, a wide
range of misleading visual effects can be seen.
While optical illusions can be fun and interesting, they also reveal a
great deal about the working of the brain.
An optical illusion (also called a visual illusion) is an illusion caused
by the visual system and characterized by a visual percept that arguably appears to differ from reality.
Illusions come in a wide variety; their categorization is difficult because the underlying cause is often not clear
but a classification proposed by Richard Gregory is useful as an orientation. According to that, there are three
main classes: physical, physiological, and cognitive illusions, and in each class there are four kinds:
Ambiguities, distortions, paradoxes, and fictions. A classic example for a physical distortion would be the
apparent bending of a stick half immerged in water; an example for a physiological paradox is the motion
aftereffect (where, despite movement, position remains unchanged). An example for a physiological fiction is
an afterimage. Three typical cognitive distortions are the Ponzo, Poggendorff, and Müller-Lyer illusion.
Physical illusions are caused by the physical environment, e.g. by the optical properties of water. Physiological
illusions arise in the eye or the visual pathway, e.g. from the effects of excessive stimulation of a specific
receptor type. Cognitive visual illusions are the result of unconscious inferences and are perhaps those most
widely known.
 Types Of Optical Illusions
01 02
Physiological Optical Literal Optical
Illusions illusions

03
Cognitive Optical
Illusions
[Link] Optical Illusions
These types of optical illusions are more complex because
they reply on the over stimulation of the brain’s senses. The
eye “sees” so much light, movement, color, dimension and size
that it confuses the brain. The mind benders you see like
geometric illusions and impossible pictures are physiological
optical illusions. At first glance, a two-dimensional figure
looks like it’s three-dimensional. That’s because the brain
immediately interprets it to be that way. Upon further
investigation, the brain realizes what the eye is actually seeing.
The image in question does not exist in nature.
02. Literal Optical illusions
A literal illusion is when the image you see is different
from the images that make it up. For example, the
illustration Hill created which is actually two images
strategically drawn to look like one fluid image is a
literal illusion. Think of it as a reversible figure. The end
result you see in a literal illusion is based on your
perception. Both images exist.

03. Cognitive Optical Illusions

This type of illusion is the most researched by scientists and
psychologists because it is the most complex type of trick the eye
can play on the brain. Unlike other optical illusions, these illusions
rely on what the subconscious mind thinks and how it relates one
object to another. In other words, what you see is believed to give
insight into the depths of your thinking. A cognitive optical illusion
uncovers what your brain infers and understands about something
that has not been explained.
Optical Illusion in Arcitecture:
Architecturally, optical illusion is using from old ages.
Architects used these methods from the old ages to make
spaces more exciting. Lots of optical illusions they used in
buildings. Such an example is from Greek Architecture. Greek
architecture displays a highly developed knowledge of many
geometrical optical illusions and counteracting them.
Drawings reveal many optical illusions to the architect, but
many are not predicted by them. The components of a single
building can exhibit some optical illusions and never see in
the reality the same relations of lines, forms, colors, and
brightness as indicated by the justifying the construction of
expensive models of more pretentious structures.
The Parthenon is a great example for the optical
illustrations. When think about the Parthenon it has a big
huge size of columns. They are all straight but their sizes are Parthenon Athens, Greece

big and when look at the building from closer can see the
columns are bending. From the other side, from the top when
you look for down can see its bending from the other side.
It's an illusion which used from the old ages.
 The other biggest example is the Taj Mahal. It's a big
huge building which has lots of illusions on it. One of
them is its colour, its shiny surface. It changes with
the light. Marbles are like the reflector, they are shiny
and white. All day time sun place is changing and Taj
Mahal colour is changing as well. It's an optical
illusion because can see the Taj Mahal white, grey,
blue, yellowish..etc. Can not say exactly the colour
before going near it. At the same time, the Taj Mahal
has another optical illusion in front of it. Again it's
also a reflector which is water. Water is a very
famous reflector which was used by lots of
architects. At Taj Mahal can see a long, big pool
where all Taj Mahal is reflected on it as like a mirror.
Where you can see the second Taj Mahal in the
Taj Mahal, India
water with the reverse shape. It's a very nice illusion
on the water, it gives more importance to the
building. It makes the structure more attractive.
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