OU Architecture and Interior Design Professor Tiziana Proietti recently announced the release of her new book, “Hans van der Laan’s Instruments of Thought: Proportion, Architecture, Analogy,” co-authored with Kees den Biesen.
Proietti and Den Biesen explore the work of Dutch Benedictine monk and architect Hans van der Laan (1904-1991), offering important insights into how artifacts address the complexity of human physical, cognitive, and social needs. They introduce three powerful lines of thought developed by van der Laan: the search for a theory of architecture, the establishment of a three-dimensional system of proportions named Plastic Number, and analogy as the mainspring of human thinking.
This triad of interconnected intellectual strategies represents van der Laan’s most important ‘instruments of thought’ and is rooted in careful observation of phenomena rather than conventional beliefs. The book urges readers to reconsider the origins of human creation and examine our perceptual and cognitive responses to the environment.
Proietti, who holds joint appointments in the Divisions of Architecture and Interior Design at OU, is also the director of the Sense Base Laboratory. This research hub aims to bridge neuroscience and architecture, testing human responses to architectural proportion.
The book’s principal aim is to be formative, developing a methodology to explore the Plastic Number theory and the many ways in which we perceive and interpret proportion. It reintroduces playful creativity and intellectual exploration into architectural pedagogy and design practice, serving as a gateway for a deeper understanding of how the built environment affects human behavior and how the human mind perceives and decodes artifacts.
Hans van der Laan’s Instruments of Thought is available for purchase on Routledge’s website.
Robert L. Wesley, a pioneering architect and beloved mentor, has died at age 88. A graduate of the University of Oklahoma, Wesley joined Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) in 1964 and became the firm's first Black partner in 1984. Throughout his career, he contributed to significant architectural projects while maintaining a strong commitment to civic engagement and professional mentorship.
The Christopher C. Gibbs College of Architecture is proud to celebrate a series of recent accomplishments by Dr. Jim Collard, Professor of Practice in the Division of Planning, Landscape Architecture, and Design, whose work continues to shape conversations around Indigenous economic development nationally and internationally.
University of Oklahoma Gibbs College of Architecture Dean Hans E. [PA1.1]Butzer returned to one of his most significant works on December 15, joining survivors and past and present board members for the groundbreaking of a $15.8 million expansion of the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum.
