Triangular Geometry in Rudolph Schindler's Packard House of 1924

Rudolph Schindler's buildings are recognized as icons of twentieth-century design. Less well known is Schindler's synergetic design method, which combines a specifc compositional sensibility with the practicalities of physical construction. His philosophy that "form conceived by the human mind is always founded on geometrical figures" implies that architecture begins with thinking about and reasonin with the building, shaping, and feeling it in the mind as a structure based on geometric laws.

Schindler used two basic geometric shapes in the Packard House, the square and the equilateral triangle. Where the triangle is a pro-generative device used to determine the shape of the house, the square is a proportional tool used for scalar measures of facades and plans. Thus the square grid applied to a three-dimensional building takes the form of a regular proportioning system, although it remains invisible in the building itself.

It is truly a shame that the Packard House was not preserved. Fortunately the original idea expressed in the house will remain appreciated, underscoring Schindler's metaphysical conception of immaterial eternity. Schindler wrote, "Essential parts [built] for eternity [do] not mean durable material but the eternal conception of room." For Schindler, the quest of the architectural process is to build something tangible out of a mental conception. Through his legacy, a genesis of triangular geometry in architectur lives on.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Jin-Ho Park is an assistant professor in the School of Architecture at the University of Hawaii. He currently teaches architectural design studios as well as a series of courses on Design and Computation. He earned his BS in architecture from Inha University, Korea, and his MA and Ph.D. in architecture from UCLA. He is the first recipient of the R.M. Schindler Fellowship of the Beata Inaya Trust Fund, 1996/7, and twice recipient of the UCLA Chancellor's Dissertation Fellowship, 1998/99. He was awarded the University of Hawaii Board of Regent's Medal for Excellence in Teaching in 2002 and the ACSA/AIAS New Faculty Teaching Award in 2003. The focuses of his academic research are on The Architecture of R. M. Schindler Unbuilt Works, Design Theory and Computation, Fundamentals of Architectonics: Proportion, Symmetry, and Compartition, Shape Grammars, Virtual Reality, and Digital Media. He has been publishing in various refereed journals including Architectural Research Quarterly (arq), Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Journal of Architectural and Planning Research, and the Nexus Network Journal.

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