RESEARCH PAPER

IN THEORY OF
ARCHITECTURE

Main points:
 BALANCE AND GRAVITATIONAL CURVE
 VISUAL ACUITY & PERCEPTION

Submitted by: Andrian M. Ejar

Submitted to. Prof. Leo Coching

BALANCE AND GRAVITATIONAL CURVE

BALANCE

 EQUALITY
 COMPOSITION
 It is the foundation upon which arrangement, harmony, and adjustment of weights, tones,
values, etc. are developed.
 Satisfies the eye concerning the relative importance of the various parts of the design.

AXIS

 Demands balance
 Means of organizing forms and spaces in Architecture.
 Imaginary and not visible.
 Qualities of length, width and induces movement along its path.

TYPES OF BALANCE
 SYMMETRICAL BALANCE
A. Centralized
Central axis - the easiest and the simplest kind of Balance is in which the elements are arranged
in precisely the same manner on either side of a central axis or line.

B. Formal Type Symmetry - approaches absolute symmetry. General mass and grouping may
appear similar, but there are dissimilarities in the plan, elevations, or details,
 C. Radial Type Symmetry - characterized where all parts radiate from a center.

UNSYMMETRICAL BALANCE

 Subtle and elusive.

 Difficult to attain
 Informal grouping of
shapes in an attempt to
 satisfy the eye's instinctive need to observe balance without making effort to place equal
masses at similar distances.

GRAVITATIONAL CURVE

 Complete adaptation to
surroundings
 Emphasizes picturesqueness
instead of symmetry
 Results freely rely on natural surroundings instead of man-made structures.
VISUAL ACUITY & PERCEPTION
 What is Visual?
Relating to seeing or to the eyes
 What is Acuity?
Sharpness or keenness of thought, vision, or hearing
 What is Perception?
The ability to see, hear or become aware of something through the senses

Perception is a process by which we organize and

interpret the patterns of stimuli in our environment, the
immediate intuitive recognition, as of aesthetic
quality.
The separation of two lines placed end to end can be perceived more readily than the separation of 2
lines placed side by side.

Acuity increases with an increase in the intensity

of illumination.

Spatial Perception

All spatial implications are mentally conditioned by the environment and experience of the viewer.

Vision is experienced through the eyes but interpreted with the mind. Perception involves the whole
pattern of nerve and brain response as well as the visual 'stimulus.

 Left brain function

uses logic, detail-oriented, facts rule, words and language, present and past, math and science,
can comprehend knowing, acknowledges, order/pattern perception, knows object name, reality-
based, forms strategies, practical, safe.
  Right brain function
uses feeling, "big picture" oriented, imagination rules, symbols and images, present and future,
philosophy & religion, can "get it" (.e. meaning), believes, appreciates, spatial perception, knows
object function, fantasy-based, presents possibilities, impetuous, risk-taking.

Two Types of Vision

1. Stereoscopic

The ability to overlap views, which are

slightly different into one image. This
visual process created an illusion of
three-dimensional depth, making it
possible to judge distances.
.

 Retinal Disparity
"One of the most frequently employed types of information especially over short distances.
*Unlikeness of the retinal images in the eyes, which are different spatial proportions. If we hold up a
cube in front of the eyes, the right eye will see slightly more of the side face on the right, the left eye
slightly more of the side on the left.

2. Kinesthetic

"Man experiences space in the movements of the eye from one part of a whole work of art to another.
Perception of Objects Objects can be perceived not only visually but by the sound of familiar voices,
people can be recognized. In identifying objects, they may be touched and weighed in hand. If they are
food objects, they may be smelt and. Thus, the observer may continue examining the object and placing
together the various sensory impressions until he is made up his mind what it is.

Perception of shape The most important feature of a shape or object is its general outline or contour.
Whenever we look at objects, they seem to be clearly outlined and demarcated separate or distinct
from their background. With a solid object, the particular contour exhibited to us at any one moment
varies with its position in space.

For example, The visual shape of a square-toppled table is a square only when we look at it from above.

Figure-ground

A phenomenon wherein
drawings consisting of black lines, any line which surrounds an area, and which is recognized as
representing an object is quickly picked by the observer, and it then seems to him to stand out from the
background in an obvious manner. No field of view is perceived all at one dead level. Some part of it will
always tend to become "figural" and to be differentiated from the rest of the field which forms the
"ground" to this figure. This figure then stands out, is readily perceived and tended to and its appended
and details are noted.

The figure-ground organization is a type of perceptual grouping that is a vital necessity or

recognizing objects through vision. In Gestalt psychology, it is known as identifying a figure from
the background. For example, black words on a printed paper are seen as the "figure," and the
white sheet as the "background"

Example:
If you look at the object, you will see a cross figure on a dark, background. With a fixed gaze closely on
the field, a switch is made and the white cross becomes a background for the dark X figure.

Reversible Figure
If a drawing s presented wherein two parts are equally meaningful, there may be an alteration of figure
and ground between them.

Reversible Figure and Ground

The reversible goblet is a demonstration of a figure-

ground reversal. Note that either the light portion (the goblet) or the dark portion (two profiles) can be
perceived as a figure against a background.

two people and a goblet.

Ambiguous Figure
Ambiguous figure-ground effects an ambiguous drawing that can be seen either as a pretty young
woman or as an attractive old woman. The old woman's eyes are the ear of the young woman.

Vanity

When you look at this figure

from afar it looks so much
like a skull but when near, it clearly shows a lady in front of a mirror.
Circle limit IV C (Heaven and Hell) a wood out by Maurits Cornelis Escher. The angels and evil alternate
but neither seem to dominate the other looking at the black bat then swift to looking at the white dove.

Artistic use of reversible figure and

ground
"Concave and Convex"

Shows an exterior view of the left-hand house, an interior view of the right-hand, and either an exterior
or interior view of the house in the middle, depending upon one's choice.