Abstract
Pythagorean design in Australia began with the international competition for the plan of Canberra (1912). The winning entry by Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin was a visionary scheme for a cosmic city formed on a St Andrew’s cross suggested by the natural topography. At the crossing of the principal ‘Land’ and ‘Water’ axes they described a circle of a mile radius, thus forming the fundamental mandala of the new Federal Capital. The formative circle crosses the Land Axis at the parliamentary complex on Capital Hill and the people’s Casino (now the site of the Australian War Memorial). Additional circles of the same radius, centred on these two sites, complete the major ‘Pythagorean Triad’. A similar Triad connects the proposed three centres of government on Capital Hill. In their design for the Capitol Theatre (completed 1924) the Griffins employed the same Pythagorean geometry and esoteric symbolism.
All things are exposed in time. Like the great fugues of Bach, Griffin’s concepts expand into our growing consciousness. In moments of crisis new dimensions emerge, new signs, new energy (Muller 1976).
First published as: Graham Pont and Peter Proudfoot , “From Cosmic City to Esoteric Cinema”. Pp. 195–206 in Nexus IV: Architecture and Mathematics, Kim Williams and Jose Francisco Rodrigues, eds. Fucecchio (Florence): Kim Williams Books, 2002.
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Notes
- 1.
The Griffins, who were both well read in the classics, were evidently familiar with the ancient traditions of town planning. They might have seen the summary of the Etruscan-Roman rituals in the article on “Augures” in Oskar Seyffert’s Dictionary of Classical Antiquities (1891) an abridgment of which was published in New York in 1908.
- 2.
“Canberra, city that reflects the stars”, Canberra Times, Panorama, 10 March 2001, 2–3.
- 3.
Walter Burley Griffin , as reported in Griffin (1940: Vol. IV, 34).
- 4.
Walter Burley Griffin , in Griffin (1940: Vol. I, 361).
References
Griffin, M. M. 1940. The Magic of America (second version of her unpublished memoirs). New York: New York Historical Society.
Guthrie, K. S. 1987. The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library: An Anthology of Ancient Writings which Relate to Pythagoras and Pythagorean Philosophy. D. R. Fideler, ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Phanes Press.
Muller, P. 1976. Walter Burley Griffin Memorial Lecture: The Esoteric Nature of Griffin’s Design for Canberra. National Library of Australia MS 7817, Box 23 (vii). http://www.pnmull.supanet.com/wbg1.htm (accessed 19 November 2013).
Proudfoot, P. R. 1994. The Secret Plan of Canberra. Kensington: University of New South Wales Press.
Seyffer, O. 1891. Dictionary of Classical Antiquities. New York: Macmillan Company.
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Pont, G., Proudfoot, P. (2015). From Cosmic City to Esoteric Cinema: Pythagorean Mathematics and Design in Australia. In: Williams, K., Ostwald, M. (eds) Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future. Birkhäuser, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_23
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