The Return of Sacred Architecture: The Golden Ratio and the End of Modernism [Paperback]

Herbert Bangs M.Arch. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 25, 2006

An inspirational call for a return to the tenets of traditional architecture as a remedy for the dehumanizing standards of modern architecture

• Explains how modern architecture is emblematic of our current estrangement from the spiritual principles that shaped humanity’s greatest civilizations

• Reveals how the ancient laws of sacred proportion and harmony can be restored

The ugly buildings that characterize the modern landscape are inferior not only to the great cathedrals of medieval Europe and the temples of ancient Egypt and Greece, but even to lesser buildings of the more recent past. The great masterworks of our ancestors spoke to humanity’s higher nature. Architect Herbert Bangs reveals how today’s dysfunctional buildings bring out the worst in humanity, reinforcing that which is most base within us. He shows how, through the ancient laws of proportion and number, architecture once expressed the harmonious relationship between man and the cosmos. In early times, the architect worked within a sacred and esoteric tradition of creating structures through which human beings could gain insight into the nature of the divine reality. Today, that tradition has been abandoned in favor of narrowly defined utilitarian principles of efficiency and economy.

In The Return of Sacred Architecture, Bangs provides the key to freeing architecture from the crude functionality of the twentieth century: the architects of the modern human landscape must find the deep-felt connection to the cosmos that guided the inner lives of those who built the temples of the past. The form of their buildings will then reflect the sacred patterns of geometry and proportion and bring forth greater harmony in the world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“. . . an excellent and precisely timed work that is encompassing, mature, and presented not only with sound reasoning but depth of feeling.”
(Robert Lawlor, author of Sacred Geometry )

“This book deserves to be on every architect’s bookshelf. It demonstrates that much of modern architecture has become divorced from the principles of proportion used by almost all important buildings in historical times.”
(Robin Heath, author of Sun, Moon, and Stonehenge )

“A superb clarion call for a restoration of beauty, integrity, and above all, sanity in modern architecture.”
(Richard Smoley, author of Forbidden Faith )

“This brave and perceptive work explores the debacle of modern architecture and points the way to a healthier new architecture, based on proportion and sacred principles, which reveres ecology and the cosmos.”
(A. T. Mann, author of Sacred Architecture )

“. . . captures truths that we intuitively know, but haven’t the training and background to articulate and illustrate as fully as is done in this fine work.” 
(Mitch Horowitz, Exectutive Editor at Tarcher/Penguin )

“This is a significant and important book that expresses the perennial wisdom that has been the basis of covert mystery school teachings throughout the ages. It is most pertinent for society at large as well as all students of the Arts and Architecture who are searching for the knowledge, understanding, and meaning of Plato’s concepts of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth.”
(Thomas Saunders, Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and author of The Broiled Frog Syndrome: Your Health and the Built Environment )

There are a few books that everyone should read, regardless of their discipline or degree of interest in esotericism--[This book] is one of them. . . . End the madness of modernity. Buy this book, give it away to everyone you know, and hope, pray, that its seeds will take root, and one day we can begin to build a world that reflects our vision of heaven as did our ancestors.
(Mark Stavish, Institute for Hermetic Studies, 1/15/07 )

"Herbert Bangs brings extraordinary insights into his scholarly yet impassioned exploration of sacred architecture. . . . THE RETURN OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE is a clarion call for adopting a more intuitive approach to design and a better appreciation for the sources of divine inspiration. I give this book my highest recommendation." (
Cynthia Larsen, RealityShifters.com, April 2007
)

"The thesis is well presented, enhanced by numerous illustrations and examples and enlivened by personal glimpses of leading designers and architects. Such clear-sighted candor and spiritual solutions are overdue, refreshing, and very encouraging." (
Light of Consciousness, Summer 2008 )

From the Back Cover

ARCHITECTURE / SACRED GEOMETRY

“. . . an excellent and precisely timed work that is encompassing, mature, and presented not only with sound reasoning but depth of feeling.”
--Robert Lawlor, author of Sacred Geometry

“This book deserves to be on every architect’s bookshelf. It demonstrates that much of modern architecture has become divorced from the principles of proportion used by almost all important buildings in historical times.”
--Robin Heath, author of Sun, Moon, and Stonehenge

“A superb clarion call for a restoration of beauty, integrity, and above all, sanity in modern architecture.”
--Richard Smoley, author of Forbidden Faith

The ugly buildings that characterize the modern landscape are inferior not only to the great cathedrals of medieval Europe and the temples of ancient Egypt and Greece, but even to lesser buildings of the more recent past. The great masterworks of our ancestors spoke to humanity’s higher nature. Architect Herbert Bangs reveals how today’s dysfunctional buildings bring out the worst in humanity, reinforcing that which is most base within us. He shows how, through the ancient laws of proportion and number, architecture once expressed the harmonious relationship between man and the cosmos. In early times, the architect worked within a sacred and esoteric tradition of creating structures through which human beings could gain insight into the nature of the divine reality. Today, that tradition has been abandoned in favor of narrowly defined utilitarian principles of efficiency and economy.

In The Return of Sacred Architecture, Bangs provides the key to freeing architecture from the crude functionality of the twentieth century: The architects of the modern human landscape must find the deep-felt connection to the cosmos that guided the inner lives of those who built the temples of the past. The form of their buildings will then reflect the sacred patterns of geometry and proportion and bring forth greater harmony in the world.

Herbert Bangs was a designer for R. R. Buckminster Fuller’s architectural firm, Geodesics, Inc., and was the Baltimore County architect and principal master planner. He and his wife live in a solar home he designed and built in Ruxton, Maryland.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Inner Traditions (November 25, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594771324
• ISBN-13: 978-1594771323
• Product Dimensions: 9.8 x 7.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #281,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enlightening & Comprehensive Overview of Art & History of Sacred Geometry in Architecture, March 14, 2007

By 

Cynthia Sue Larson "www.realityshifters.com" (San Francisco bay area, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Return of Sacred Architecture: The Golden Ratio and the End of Modernism (Paperback)

Herbert Bangs brings extraordinary insights into his scholarly yet impassioned exploration of sacred architecture, which is a relatively new and vitally important subject. Bangs presents illustrations and historical accounts of a wide variety of architectural structures, letting the stories of each example demonstrate the points he makes regarding archetypes of shelter (cave, clearing, garden, water, elements), archetypes of design (duality, hierarchy, materials), and resolution of form. Bangs enthusiastically praises those architectural masterpieces which prove themselves to be aesthetically pleasing and livable, and denounces designs which may have been lauded by others, yet actually are tolerable by few. There are reasons why some spaces can lead people to feel relaxed and refreshed... or confused and stressed... and Bangs brilliantly describes the architectural principles and qualities that create these results. THE RETURN OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE is a clarion call for adopting a more intuitive approach to design and a better appreciation for the sources of divine inspiration. I give this book my highest recommendation to everyone, since all of us are at some point involved in designing, buying, visiting, and living in architectural structures.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Especially recommended for any college-level architectural library., February 2, 2007

By 

Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Return of Sacred Architecture: The Golden Ratio and the End of Modernism (Paperback)

Both architecture and spirituality collections will relish Return of Sacred Architecture: The Golden Ratio and the End of Modernism: it contrasts and modern religious architectural structure with the grand monuments of the past, revealing how modern dysfunctional buildings bring out the worst in humanity and how ancestral masterworks focus on the best. Architecture once was closer to expressing the sacred between man and cosmos: THE RETURN OF SACRED ARCHITECTURE focuses on the elements of this expression and is especially recommended for any college-level architectural library.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Therapy?, November 10, 2009

By 

Patrick Curren "The no self" (The Happy Dream) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

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This review is from: The Return of Sacred Architecture: The Golden Ratio and the End of Modernism (Paperback)

The author does a very good job of describing the pathetic state of contemporary architecture to include all the isms. He starts with the school of the Bauhaus and continues with the concepts of machine age architecture or what was termed the international style and then classifies those associated with the modern movements as "materialists". The author covers interesting flaws associated with celebrated architectural works by famous architects such as Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Gehry. A sampling of his humor is his reference to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain of which he terms this building "hidiotic", a combination of hideous and idiotic. The intent is to drive home just how inhuman machine architecture "is". I especially enjoyed the spiritual references to Zen and Gnosticism as well as references to Carl Jung's archetypes. The author touches on four archetypes of great architecture such as the cave, the clearing, the garden and water and the associated balance and harmony needed to successfully experience these archetypes in great architecture. Mathematical symbolism is discussed along with the Golden Ratio and two small modern examples are analyzed. Of interest to note is that this book does not contain any architectural gibberish. While I can't say I agree with everything in it, it is easy to comprehend. Andrea Palladio's proportion concepts are covered as architecture as frozen music. I admire the author for having the courage to create such a work. The author has convinced me that architecture has taken a detour towards the "ego" or mind (logic) and has ignored the architecture of the heart/spirit/intuition. Great architecture combines the mind and the heart and thus becomes wholehearted. After living in the contemporary world of "ego architecture", it is refreshing and therapeutic to learn there is another like me in this world.