Human+Scale


 * Human Scale **

According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, scale is either pan or tray of a balance. Scale is another element in the architectural composition and it is the relation of size between the parts of an entire piece. Scale is closely related to proportion and it is basically used to create harmony and comfort to the observer eye besides having functions of use in the case of buildings. In fact, the scale of an object depends on the proportions of itself with some unit or module that, in the case of the Greeks, they used the base of the columns as that unit or module for the proportions of their temples, and this proportion was based on the divine proportion or golden ratio, which can be found in nature as the physical proportions of the human body. It wasn’t just used by the Greeks, but also by the renaissance artists and the Egyptians in the design of the pyramids.



In the case of the buildings, the proportion depends on the human size or human scale. For example, a person in a room not only sees the proportion of a door with the relationship of the wall that contains it, he or she “measures them against his/her own dimensions”. So the human scale is the proportion related to the human dimensions.

Human interact with their environment, natural or artificially created, so they need that the created one to have the right measures for them. This way, the human scale shows up as the response for the physical needs of people. Buildings have doors, stairs, highs, hallways and other features that fit perfectly with the regular person.



Sometimes the human scale can be distorted to serve automotive scale, for monumental and esthetic effects. This way, the scale are not just adapted to humans, but also for elements that are used for simplify life, for example the cars, they are created for people and for this reason they have a human size, but they are made for more than one person, so their dimensions are bigger, and there are spaces with the right size for them.



The right high of a storey for a regular person is 2.70 meters, although there are buildings, houses and other spaces with much bigger highs that 2.70 m, the reason: monumental and esthetic effects. When the architect projects something he or she does it with a specific purpose, sometimes this can be creating a hierarchy between spaces and for that one of them has an unusual high that doesn’t necessarily match with the person needs.



This way human size or scale can have some variations that don’t accord with people size or needs but at the end it is all done for the human comfort.

Sources: [] [] http://americancity.org/magazine/article/respect-for-the-human-scale/ // [|www.arqhys.com/arquitectura/escala.html] //