Okuzeka
Architecture vocabulary · Space, Form and Composition

Proportion

Meaning in architecture, with examples

/prəˈpɔːrʃn/nounCommon term

In architecture, proportion means: The relationship in size between the parts of a building, and between each part and the whole, such as the height and width of a window or a room.

In Turkish: oran, orantı

How it is used

A classic topic in design and history, from the classical orders to Le Corbusier's Modulor and the golden ratio. Juries say a room or facade has good, awkward or elegant proportions; the word is often used in the plural.

Example sentences

  1. The windows have tall, narrow proportions that echo the older houses on the street.

  2. The room feels out of proportion because the ceiling is too low for its size.

Common collocations

  • good proportions
  • out of proportion
  • in proportion to
  • golden ratio
  • human scaleThe quality of buildings and spaces whose size and details relate comfortably to the human body, so that people feel at ease rather than small or lost.
  • scaleThe ratio between the size of a drawing or model and the real size of the building; at 1:100, one centimetre on paper equals one metre in reality.
  • massingThe overall three-dimensional shape and arrangement of a building's main volumes, without details such as windows or materials.
  • classical ordersThe systems of column design and proportion from ancient Greece and Rome: Doric, Ionic and Corinthian, plus the Roman Tuscan and Composite orders.
  • facadeAn outer face of a building, especially the front or the side facing a street, considered as a whole with its windows, materials and details.

This word in other fields

The same English word can have a different meaning in another field:

More terms: Space, Form and Composition

Practise with graded reading

Reading at the right level is the fastest way to make new words stick. Pick free English books by level: