Book chapter
Geomantic (Re)Creation: Magic Squares and Claude Bragdon’s Theosophic Architecture
Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, pp 289-303
07 May 2014
Abstract
For architect Claude Bragdon, the numerical acrostics known as magic squares were “conspicuous instances of the intrinsic harmony of number” that interpret the “cosmic order which permeates all existence”, and he demonstrated their principles in his constructed projects. This paper investigates the relationship between the magic square and geomantic architecture regulated by the human form using lessons from the ancient Hindu Vastusutra Upanisad, which teach divination of the constructed world through the squaring of the circle with the anthropomorphic yupa and vastu purusa mandala (magic square). It argues that Bragdon’s First Universalist Church (1907) is a visible demonstration of his theosophic architectural theory, which emphasized a cosmological relationship between the body and the building through number, geometry and harmonic proportions.
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1 citations in Scopus
Details
- Title
- Geomantic (Re)Creation: Magic Squares and Claude Bragdon’s Theosophic Architecture
- Creators
- Eugenia Victoria Ellis - Drexel University
- Publication Details
- Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, pp 289-303
- Publisher
- Springer International Publishing; Cham
- Resource Type
- Book chapter
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- [Retired Faculty]
- Scopus ID
- 2-s2.0-84944579825
- Other Identifier
- 991019174748804721