Proportion (architecture)

[1] Proportion in architecture was discussed by Vitruvius, Leon Battista Alberti, Andrea Palladio, and Le Corbusier among others.

As Vitruvius defined the concept in the first chapters of the treatise, he mentioned the three prerequisites of architecture are firmness (firmitas), commodity (utilitas), and delight (venustas), which require the architects to be equipped with a varied kind of learning and knowledge of many branches.

Moreover, Vitruvius identified the "Six Principles of Design" as order (ordinatio), arrangement (dispositio), proportion (eurythmia), symmetry (symmetria), propriety (decor) and economy (distributio).

[2] The word symmetria, usually translated to "symmetry" in modern renderings, in ancient times meant something more closely related to "mathematical harmony"[3] and measurable proportions.

[3] Vitruvius used these ratios to prove that the composition of classical orders mimicked the human body, thereby ensuring aesthetic harmonization when people viewed architectural columns.

In classical architecture , proportions were set by the radii of columns.
The Vitruvian Man developed by Leonardo da Vinci based on the description of Vitruvius' ideal ratio of the human body.
Commemorative coin illustrating Le Corbusier 's Modulor
Church of Sant'Alessandro, Lucca , Italy: proportions of first construction phase of the façade ad triangulum and today's façade ad quadratum .