Symmetry in Architecture by Kim Williams, Architect Annotated

 

 

Symmetry in Architecture Kim Williams, Architect
Via Mazzini 7
50054 Fucecchio (Firenze) Italy

 

 

symmetry, in architecture as in other arts, is “a unifying concept”

 

my ultimate object is to explore why an architect might choose a given symmetry type, and thus to provide insight into the design process from the point of view of symmetry.

 

Identifying a type of symmetry in a two-dimensional composition is relatively straightforward; the identification of symmetry types in a three-dimensional object such as a sculpture is somewhat more complicated because our perception of the object changes as we move around it. In the case of architecture, we not only move around it, but we move through it as well. This means that architecture provides us with a special opportunity to experience symmetry as well as to see it.

 

Architecture is most frequently characterized by the nature of its elements

 

all these solid elements constitute an envelope around what we experience when we move through a building, that is, the void, or architectural space. In a very real way, the true work of the architect is to shape the void,

 

Bilateral symmetry is by far the most common form of symmetry in architecture

 

In bilateral symmetry, the halves of a composition mirror each other.

 

Rotation and reflection provide a sense of movement and rhythm in architectural elements and an emphasis on the central point of the architectural space

 

Cylindrical symmetry is that found in towers and columns

 

The two opposing colonnades designed by Gianlorenzo Bernini that surround the elliptical piazza in front of St. Peter’s in Rome exhibit chiral symmetry

 

Chiral symmetry is found in two objects which are each other’s mirror image and which cannot be superimposed,

 

 

Similarity symmetry is found where repeated elements change in scale but retain a similar shape, such as in the layered roofs on a pagoda

 

the forms of which diminish in size but retain their form as they get closer to the top of the building. Another example of similarity symmetry is found in the nestled shells of the Sydney Opera House,

 

Helixes and spirals in architecture often represent continuity.

 

Spiral or helical symmetry

 

Spiral or helical symmetry

 

Translational symmetry > > falls in the category of space group symmetry, and is, after bilateral symmetry, the most common kind of symmetry found in architecture.

 

Translation may also involve the repetition of entire pieces of buildings,

 

in most buildings we find more than one kind of symmetry. For example, in the Chinese pagoda, we can see at the same time both the cylindrical symmetry inherent in the building’s organization about the vertical axis, and the similarity symmetry of the diminishing sizes of the layered roofs.

 

Having examined how symmetry is found in the parts of a building that we see, we may take a look at how symmetry relates to the part of the building we don’t see, which is the void that is the architectural space. Two concepts are fundamental in describing architectural space: center and path. Center relates to a single important place within the larger architectural space, such as the altar in a church. Path relates to the spectator’s movement through the space.

 

In Roman architecture, strictly observed axial symmetry gives rise to spaces that are monumental and static, that is, generally embodying a sense of equilibrium rather than expressing a sense of dynamic movement.[8]

 

Thus we see that in this arc of architectural history, the dominant symmetry evolved from a generalized axial symmetry in the Roman age, to bilateral symmetry in the Paleo-Christian, Romanesque and Gothic ages, to rotational and reflectional symmetry in the Renaissance

 

There are some further aspects of the subject that I am now studying but about which I am not yet in a position to draw conclusions,

 

One of these aspects has to do with “broken symmetries”.

 

A second, very important question concerning the architecture today is this, “Why have contemporary architects deliberately chosen to disregard traditional types of symmetry in their architecture?