ABSTRACT
Ideal geometry is geometry on its own terms operating through the human mind in the hermetic realm of mathematics. The human mind seems to enjoy ideal geometry and likes to apply it to the world. Works of architecture designed using ideal geometry seem to possess a satisfying harmony and sense of rightness. Ideal geometry is different from the geometries of being, which derive from the world’s ontology and phenomenology. Ideal geometry helps an architect to make decisions about positions and dimensions. This chapter presents various attitudes an architect might adopt towards the role of ideal geometry in architecture. Ideal geometry is a significant consideration in the universal language of architecture. One of the favourite hunting grounds for ideal geometry as the touchstone of architectural beauty is the Parthenon, the fifth-century BCE temple to Athena on the Acropolis in Athens. The gifts ideal geometry have offered the uncertain architect for thousands of years are ideas, authority and integrity.
