“Build me straight, O worthy Master!
Stanch and strong, a goodly vessel,
That shall laugh at all disaster,
And with wave and whirlwind wrestle!”

The merchant’s word
Delighted the Master heard; 
For his heart was in his work, and the heart 
Giveth grace unto every Art.
[ . . .]

—Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, from “The Building of the Ship”

Featured Titles

Beauty Memory Unity
A Theory of Proportion in Architecture
Steve Bass

Ancient architects and artists had a way of striking resonant chords in those who viewed of their work. However, this skill seems to have disappeared. Beauty Memory Unity points toward a possibility of regaining a new sense of unity in the visual arts through a combination of theoretical ideas and practical methods, of narrative description and visual exercises. READ MORE

Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts
Rudolf Steiner

This collection of lectures introduces Rudolf Steiner’s unique vision of architecture as a culmination of the arts, uniting sculpture, painting, and engraving, as well as drama, music, and dance—a vital synthesis with the goal of awakening human beings to their task in life. READMORE

Chartres
Sacred Geometry, Sacred Space
Gordon Strachan

Gordon Strachan explores the magnificent structure of Chartres Cathedral, and examines the influences on the medieval master builders. Using Chartres as a starting point, Dr. Strachan suggests that the origins of the Gothic style may lie in Islamic architecture. He goes on to consider how the experience of a particular architectural space affects us, and how sacred geometry works. READMORE

Drawing Geometry
A Primer of Basic Forms for Artists, Designers, and Architects
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Geometry is both elegantly simple and infinitely profound. People in many professions find that they need to be able to draw geometric shapes accurately, regardless of artistic ability. Jon Allen shows readers how to draw two-dimensional geometric shapes in simple step-by-step instructions and provides step-by-step instructions for constructing two-dimensional geometric shapes, which can be readily followed by a beginner. READMORE

The Fourth Dimension
Sacred Geometry, Alchemy & Mathematics
Rudolf Steiner

The point, line, plane and solid objects represent the first three dimensions, but a kind of reversal of space is involved in the ascent to a fourth dimension. Steiner leads us to the brink of this new perspective—as nearly as it can be done with words, diagrams, analogies, and examples of many kinds. In doing so, he continues his lifelong project of demonstrating that our objective, everyday thinking is the lowest rung of a ladder that reaches up to literally infinite heights. READ MORE

From the Collected Works of Rudolf Steiner

Architecture as Peacework
The First Goetheanum, Dornach, 1914
5 lectures, Dornach, Switzerland, October 10-25, 1914 (CW 287)
READ MORE | CONTENTS

 . . . if anthroposophy performs the task of really clarifying human thinking; if it really suffuses our thinking with clarity and straightens it out, then something of immense value will have been gained for the immediate future. For it’s not just hearts that have become misaligned in our materialistic age, whose karma we are experiencing—our thoughts are also misaligned. People don’t want mutual understanding. And worse—there may never have been a time in which there was such colossal lying on all sides as we have seen in our day. That’s something, my dear friends, which is even worse than what’s happening out there on the battlefields, because its effects last longer, because it works its way up into the spiritual world itself. 

Actually it’s slovenly thinking that has become our greatest talent! That’s why I have to say: anthroposophy is what humanity needs most urgently today. 

—Rudolf Steiner, lecture of October 19, 1914, in Architecture as Peacework (CW 287)

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