Perspective is everything, and no one knows this more than Mt. Airy architect Joel Levinson, who recently launched the Daring Diagonality Virtual Museum, the first museum dedicated to Diagonality.

According to the website, the museum’s mission is “to present, explain, and preserve examples of Diagonality worldwide.”

“Diagonality is a geometric design motif characterized by diagonal shapes and lines that have recast the shape of buildings and cities, altered the look of paintings and sculpture, transformed the shape of bridges and weapons, and influenced the design of clothes and countless other products,” Levinson said

Defining Diagonality has been a lifelong project for Levinson. The new museum and its 33 virtual galleries trace Diagonality’s history from around 2,700 BC to the present using photographs, architectural models and drawings, art and articles.

“Countless examples of Diagonality can be discovered around the world...once the mind and the eye are cued to see them,” Levinson said. “We hope to engage enthusiasts from the worlds of art, architecture, and design to marvel at this hidden-in-plain-sight treasure and celebrate the centuries of its unusualness that has never been appreciated before as a coherent artistic phenomenon.”

Levinson, 82, said his interest in diagonality was piqued as a young student of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania (1957-1963), where he studied under renowned architects such as Louis Kahn, Robert Venturi and Romaldo Giurgola. At that time, Levinson said, the use of diagonals in architecture – then called “Zaps and Zoots,” --was considered a fad.

But Levinson noticed the patterns of diagonals and stacks of triangles showing up in more and more examples of architecture. They were a clear departure from the standard straight lines – square and plumb – that define the most common shapes of buildings.

He said the concept of Diagonality in the beginning was just an idea.

“I didn’t know if the concept was valid,” he said. “It was just this strong hunch, but as time went by, I saw other architects around the world who were using the diagonal motif.

Levinson began clipping out photographs and articles from magazines, doing research and documenting examples of Diagonality until he amassed thousands of photographs and images.

“It was an educational process unto itself,” he said. “There was so much I had to learn going back in history. It’s been quite an adventure.”

At the time, he said, no one was writing about the phenomenon of Diagonality.

According to Levinson’s website: “The Phenomenon of Diagonality is the a global design development characterized by the intentional, oftentimes asymmetrical, use of the diagonal motif in architecture and in many other design disciplines.”

Levinson sees examples of Diagonality everywhere.  

“Of course, whenever I come upon a building that is a dramatic use of the motif, I get really excited,” he said.

Levinson recalled seeing Puerta de Europa or The Gate of Europe towers while driving on a highway in Madrid, Spain with his wife about 15 or 20 years ago.

“In the distance, I saw two skyscrapers leaning toward one another, hanging out over the road,” he said. “They were designed by Philip Johnson and his partner John Burgee. I couldn’t wait to get closer. So excited, I began photographing through the car window. I said to myself ‘This thing [The Phenomenon of Diagonality] is real. Here was concrete evidence.”

The towers are twin office buildings near the Plaza de Castilla in Madrid, Spain. The towers have a height of 114 m (374 ft) and have 26 floors.

For 60 years, Levinson personally funded the project and continues to do so. A recently formed GoFundMe campaign (on-going) has helped a bit but does not begin to offset the many thousands of dollars invested in books, assistants, website development costs, photography, etc.

“It’s been a true labor of love,” Levinson said. The museum website developed by HFB Technologies under Levinson’s direction remains an on-going expense. Former West Mount Airy physicist Dr. Kenneth Ford volunteered to edit Levinson’s essays for the museum after the architect lectured on his theme at the Germantown Art and Science Club several years ago.

Together, Levinson and Ford are working on a book and currently seeking a literary agent or publisher.

“Ken’s contribution has been of immeasurable value,” Levinson said

What does it mean to Levinson to have the museum complete?

“My buildings and novel “The Reluctant Hunter” will fade from memory over time but hopefully this museum will be continued through the efforts of my children Aaron and Julie…and others who may pick up the torch,” he said. “But even if the Daring Diagonal Virtual Museum faces its demise at some time in the future, the idea has become a living part of modern culture. After Architectural Digest described the museum as a must-see experience, AD’s story has spread through South America and the Middle East. The concept continues to spread in articles in India and Germany.  It gives me great pleasure to leave behind a new perspective in the art world that had been invisible and now is seen and appreciated by countless people around the world.”

Levinson said given its ubiquity, Diagonality deserves recognition as the Signature Geometry of the Modern Era.