Selected Bibliography Architecture - Form Space and Order | Page 53

PR IMARY SH APES

Gestalt psychology affirms that the mind will simplify the visual environment in order to understand
it. Given any composition of forms, we tend to reduce the subject matter in our visual field to the
simplest and most regular shapes. The simpler and more regular a shape is, the easier it is to perceive
and understand.

From geometry we know the regular shapes to be the circle, and the infinite series of regular polygons
that can be inscribed within it. Of these, the most significant are the primary shapes: the circle, the
triangle, and the square.

Circle

A plane curve every