Replies

1. 
   Jer | Jun 12, 2006 02:10pm | #1

   Yes. I can't bring it off the top of my head at the moment but it's the "golden ratio". Search for it on Google, or any good book on classical architecture should tell you.

2. 
   bolts | Jun 12, 2006 02:20pm | #2

   Try a book by John Summerson Called (The Classical Language of Architecture) its a paperback published by Thames and Hudson good for other things as well 

   You can make it fool proof but not idiot proof 

3. 
   andy_engel | Jun 12, 2006 03:30pm | #3

   I edited a 2-pager in FHB about 5 years ago titled something like Square Columns with Entasis. Alright, not a grabby title, but accurate. You might look that up on FHB's main site as I think it had some formulas that might help you.

   They were derived from Asher Benjamin's An American Builder's Companion, first pubished in about 1830. That's when men were men, sheep worried, and carpenters got to do some truly fun stuff. The book's been re-puplished by Dover Press, and it's one of the best references for good looking carpentry you can buy.

   Andy

   "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein

   "Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom

1. 
   WNYguy | Jun 12, 2006 05:06pm | #4

   Yes, that was an excellent piece.  I used it when I built my square columns a few years back.  Well, actually, I couldn't find that particular issue when I went to make my template.

   So I just pulled the 1830 Asher Benjamin book off my shelf and got the formula from there.

   Also, for reference I had the columns from original front porch of my house.  Square, with entasis.  1838.

   Square columns from the Arts & Crafts period would be a different animal, though.  Larger diameter-to-height ratio, straight taper, set on a tall base or pedestal?

   Allen

1. 
   andy_engel | Jun 12, 2006 05:35pm | #5

   They would be different, and probably not curved. I think you could still use Benjamin to find proportions that work.

   There are only three things that matter in aesthetic design: Proportion, proportion, and proportion. Any style looks good if it's well proportioned.Andy

   "Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein

   "Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom

4. 
   seb | Jun 12, 2006 06:06pm | #6

   try this page,

   http://community.middlebury.edu/~harris/Humanities/TheGoldenMean.html

   Bud

5. 
   CapnMac | Jun 13, 2006 01:24am | #7

   Is there a formula for determining the proper proportions

   Many, too many, in some ways. 

   Both have tapered columns.  Both look bad.

   Now, which is the "bad" here?  Is it the spacing of the columns (like 4 where 6 or 8 should be); or the sizing of the columns?  Or both?

   Arts & Crafts porches are often seen with a "laid-over" rectangle, but with a very squat base (like, close to H/5 or H/6); then with a "rhythm" of 4 bases, but only three columns.  Prairie style thends to have a bit more "purity" in using the 1:1.16 Golden Section; some of the A&C houses look (to me) to be closer to "root two" proportions, 1:1.41, which can also be pleaseing to the eye, but take some carefull fitting.

   Occupational hazard of my occupation not being around (sorry Bubba)
6. 
   Ragnar17 | Jun 13, 2006 01:29am | #8

   Is there a formula for determining the proper proportions?

   I think a more bullet-proof solution would be to drive around until you see a house with columns that look good to you.  Then get out your camera and your tape and "borrow" the design.

1. 
   trout | Jun 13, 2006 04:39am | #9

   I think a more bullet-proof solution would be to drive around until you see a house with columns that look good to you.  Then get out your camera and your tape and "borrow" the design.

   Well put.  Sometimes there are just no good ways to size or proportion a feature other than looking around to see something that might fit and dummy it up or build a prototype.

   Having said that, many people like proportions slightly skewed a bit in one direction or another.  Sometimes clients need to be saved from themselves, but I'll usually take a design a knotch further twords their prefferences if it doesn't look too strange.

   While not the end all, some rules are probably good to know, if only for a good starting place.