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1.618
The PG Bison competition and awards have been modernised to appeal to the ever changing market of contemporary designers. However, the prestige of the competition has been vigilantly maintained. The brand and concept behind the competition aim to push traditional boundaries and challenge participants to express their creativity.

Even with change, it is important to hold on to principals and values that have stood the test of time and will continue into the future. In the worlds of Architecture, Design, Art, Music, Mathematics, and a host of other fields the ‘golden ratio’ is perceived as an example of this kind of principal.

It is something that is appealing, admirable, and in many cases mystically alluring in that it can never be completely logically explained.

The numerical expression of the ‘golden ratio’ or ‘golden mean’ is 1.618.


The Golden Ratio 1.618
The Golden Ratio has fascinated influential minds for thousands of years. It was discovered that many aspects of physical elements exhibit proportions based on a clear mathematical ratio – we find beauty in or attraction to these physical things that display the proportions of the golden ratio. (Other names for this ratio include the golden section, golden mean or golden number). The golden ratio is denoted by the Greek letter phi (F).

Many famous works are proportioned to the ratio (see list below). Artists and architects have proportioned their works on the ratio believing this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing. Historically, the ratio has fascinated people for the last 2400 years and the ratio has inspired thinkers of all disciplines like no other number in the history of mathematics, art and design.

Examples of structures that exhibit the Golden Ratio
  • Acropolis, including the Parthenon, - many of its proportions approximate the golden ratio
  • Great Mosque – reveals a consistent application of the golden ratio
  • Stonehenge – claimed to have golden ratio proportions between its concentric circles
  • Great pyramid of Giza – this exhibits the golden ratio according to various pyramidoligists
  • Egyptian designers sought the golden proportion with mathematical techniques
  • Buddhist architecture – the Stuppa of Borobudur in Java Indonesia. The largest of its kind has golden ratio proportions
  • Gothic era – Notre Dame in Paris is designed according to the golden ratio

Evidence of the golden ratio is scattered through-out nature. The coils on sea shells, the dimensions of ‘attractive’ humans and animals, and a vast number of other natural elements are said to exhibit the characteristics of the golden ratio.
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PG Bison 1.618 Student Brief 2012
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Key Dates PG Bison 1.618 Student Competition


Call to Entry
November 2011

Closing Date / Submission
of Entries

Friday, 17 August 2012

Selection of Finalists
Friday, 7 September 2012

Lecturer’s Feedback Session

To be announced

Awards Ceremony
To be announced

Launch of 2013 Brief

December 2012


PG Bison 1.618
Competition Office


Telephone: 011 646 1675
Email: hi@1sixoneeight.co.za

Entries to be delivered to:
59 Westmeath Rd, Parkview, Johannesburg