This episode explores balance and order in architecture. Examples include works by renowned Japanese architect Tadao Ando and British architect Zaha Hadid. Ando often employs rigid lines—straight edges forming squares and rectangles, occasionally incorporating triangles. In Japan, he designed a unique building entirely themed around diagonal lines, creating a disorienting, seasick-like illusion for visitors, deliberately evoking imbalance. Similarly, Zaha Hadid’s design for an opera house lobby in mainland China uses slanted lines to induce dizziness and a sense of instability. Even when buildings defy balance, their unstable forms can offer a refreshing and novel experience.
Previously mentioned paintings, such as The Morning of Christ, utilize diagonal divisions to split the scene into two parts. Another work, Homage of the Square, features a central axis that balances the left and right sides but leaves the upper and lower sections asymmetrical. This interplay of balance and imbalance is precisely what makes the painting intriguing.
Balance comes in many forms. The most basic is axial symmetry, seen in figure paintings where the human body appears symmetrically mirrored left and right. For example, the ribs of a traditional Chinese round fan serve as its central axis. Another type is the Chinese Bagua (Eight Trigrams). Though asymmetrical upon close inspection—whether viewed vertically, horizontally, or diagonally—it creates an illusion of symmetry, known as lateral symmetry.
