Rhythm

**RHYTHM** Is the ordered recurrence of elements in a composition

[|**"Rhythm**] in ** visual arts **is an attribute of any object that is marked by a systematic recurrence of elements having recognizable relationships between them. In Architecture, much of the effects of a building will depend on the harmony, the simplicity, and the power of these rhythmical relationships." Types of Rhythm:

 The repetition of shapes: windows, doors, columns, wall areas, arches, and the like. In the repetitions of shapes, spacing can vary without destroying rhythmical character.

 The repetition of dimensions, such as the dimensions between supports or those of bay spacing. In the repetition of dimensions, the units may vary in size or shape and rhythm will still remain.

 The repetition of differences. In this rhythmical series, the ascending and descending progressions are built up from small to large and to small again. But when the large is in the center, you experience a sense of swelling to an important element and diminishing to a small one progressing from a quiet beginning to a climax and then relaxing again. (Repetition of differences is the more complex type of rhythm.)

 A mere repetition of similar units equally spaced and without a defined beginning or a defined end is called an open rhythm. Its effect in architecture is usually disturbing. But if an open rhythm is closed at either end by the effect of perspective or by a definite marking of each end, this sense of confusion disappears. Rhythms can be closed by changing the shapes of the units at the ends or by changing the size of the units at the ends. It can also be closed by adding to each end a strongly marked opposing rhythm.

The rhythm of lines: such rhythms can be merely systematic variations of linear lengths or curvatures. This plan has a marked rhythmical character based on repetitions of wall planes and supports, and on alternations of closed and open views.



The spiral is one of the most rhythmical of forms because of its combination of repeated curves around a focus and the continual progressive change in the radius of the curvature. The fact that the spiral finally winds around to a point of minimum curvature gives it a powerful close.

 Of more importance to the architect are the larger rhythms of interior spaces. Forms which in plan are rhythmically related necessarily create a sense of motion and a sense of direction.

 In exterior rhythms, the problem is in the rhythms of the masses themselves.

  The repeated masses of Rockefeller Center are similar to each other yet different, and all <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;">, with their subtly designed breaks form a rhythmical composition of the greatest interest. There has to be a rhythmical basis for the changing heights, widths, and setbacks. There is a rhythm in the relation of end wings to the point of central interests; there is rhythm in the outline of a good tower as it narrows from the bottom upwards.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> **Greek** ornament, for example, indicates an intense love of small, regular, and perfectly studied rhythms. It is essentially linear: the relief is regular throughout and shadows count almost as purely linear elements.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> **The Romans**, on the other hand, love rhythms of a much freer and more plastic type. In Roman ornaments, some elements project boldly and some die away into the background; the shadows are no longer linear but instead form varied areas of changing value. The basic composition is further distinguished by great rhythmical freedom; strong progression from big to little, from high relief to low relief, and from free swinging curves to tight spirals.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: justify;"> **Gothic** is extraordinarily varied in its rhythmical content. Architects liked to establish many clearly defined and persistent rhythms in their ornaments such as repeated vertical lines of wall panels which develop rhythmical power and the exaggerated staccatos on the edge of spires and gables which emphasize their rhythmical richness. In developed Baroque architecture, the designers achieved a kind of ordered and dramatic rhythmical complexity of line, of mass, and of shape which have never been surpassed.

<span style="display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; text-align: center;"> Rhythmical relationships arise simply and naturally from constructive and functional necessities: controlled and orchestrated by the creative imagination, they become one of the chief elements in architectural beauty.