Collage!

We started out our journey towards architectural genius with a simple collage. Well, it may have seemed simple but in reality it was packed with centuries of mathematical research and observations all incorporated into a visually appealing, single piece of paper.

The golden ratio, approximately 1.618, appears in a variety of shapes and objects, from a average rectangle to the face of the Mona Lisa. The assignment was to represent the golden ratio in as many ways as possible in a collage. Simple right? Actually yes, it was; scribbling random golden rectangles, spirals, or any other shape that seemed fun to draw onto the paper and then taping a couple of pictures on pretty much got the job done.

I chose to start with a piece of paper, 5 by 8, which is a very simple, inaccurate version of such an extraordinary ratio, and drew lines in it to form perfect curves all the way around. I then was able to draw a smaller golden rectangle in the middle of the oval I had just formed. Inside this, I drew a golden spiral, which wasn't a very good golden spiral due to the approximation that I had made earlier in the process, and wrote out the golden ratio around the edges. Finally, I glued in pictures of a sunflower, apple logo, a violin, and the Mona Lisa, all of which were designed around the idea of the golden ratio. Well, I guess the sunflower wasn't exactly designed by anyone... Anyway, it turned out acceptably well.