The Golden Rectangle | What is it and why use it?

The Golden Rectangle for Design 

Every so often we find a new way of working or a new perspective and this informs our future processes. After a recent meeting with a customer, Andy Laycock, Quadra’s AEC Technical Specialist, happened upon a new concept which is now having an impact on how he sees designs.

The Golden Rectangle

Until recently I was unaware of the term Golden Rectangle. It was brought to my attention by a customer that uses its ratios to add pleasing proportions to his designs work.

I have always had a soft spot for the Fibonacci sequence – (mainly because I like the helix and the old Autodesk/AutoCAD logo). As a result, I became intrigued as to how sequences and ratios have allegedly been used in architecture throughout history – The Sphinx in relation to the Pyramids & Giza, the Parthenon, Notre-Dame. The ratio has an important role to play in the opinion of some designers and artists.

It may be that as humans we need to see order in what is aesthetically pleasing and as a result, we make the golden rectangle fit where it doesn’t. What, however, cannot be disputed is that it crops up in nature all over the place, and for that reason, I feel it is a tool worth considering.

Dynamic Families for use with the Golden Rectangle

Anyway, back to the real point in of this blog! With the above in mind, I thought it may be interesting to create a dynamic family that could be used in views, giving a starting point for the ratios.

The family is basically a sketch using a Base dimension that re-scale subsequent sub-divisions in relation to the Golden Ratio = 1.618. It is quite simple and can be flipped and rotated as required. It can be used in plan, section and elevation views.

Here is a short video of what I came up with.