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2007 | Buch

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Nexus Network Journal

Patterns In Architecture

Verlag: Birkhäuser Basel

Buchreihe : Nexus Network Journal

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This issue is dedicated to various kinds of patterns in architecture. Buthayna Eilouti and Amer Al-Jokhadar address patterns in shape grammars in the ground plans of Mamluk madrasas, religious schools. Giulio Magli goes back further in history, to the age of Greek colonies in Italy before they were conquered by the Romans, to examine patterns in urban design. In Traditional Patterns in Pyrgi of Chios: Mathematics and Community Charoula Stathopoulou examines the geometric patterns that decorate the buildings of the town of Pyrgi, on the Greek island of Chios. Curve Fitting is a study of ways to construct a function so that its graph most closely approximates the pattern given by a set of points. Dirk Huylebrouck’s paper examines how a pattern of points extracted from an arch might be associated to a precise mathematical curve. James Harris looks at the designs of Frank Lloyd Wright and Piet Mondrian to extract the rules of their pattern generation and propose possible applications.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Letter from the Editor

Research

A Generative System for Mamluk Madrasa Form-Making

Abstract

In this paper, a parametric shape grammar for the derivation of the floor plans of educational buildings (madrasas) in Mamluk architecture is presented. The grammar is constructed using a corpus of sixteen Mamluk madrasas that were built in Egypt, Syria, and Palestine during the Mamluk period. Based on an epistemological premise of structuralism, the morphology of Mamluk madrasas is analyzed to deduce commonalities of the formal and compositional aspects among them. The set of underlying common lexical and syntactic elements that are shared by the study cases is listed. The shape rule schemata to derive Mamluk madrasa floor plans are formulated. The sets of lexical elements and syntactic rules are systematized to form a linguistic framework. The theoretical framework for the formal language of Mamluk architecture is structured to establish a basis for a computerized model for the automatic derivation of Mamluk madrasa floor plans.

Buthayna H. Eilouti, Amer M. Al-Jokhadar

A Computer-Aided Rule-Based Mamluk Madrasa Plan Generator

Abstract

A computer-aided rule-based framework that restructures the unstructured information embedded in precedent designs is introduced. Based on a deductive analysis of a corpus of sixteen case studies from Mamluk architecture, the framework is represented as a generative system that establishes systematic links between the form of a case study, its visual properties, its composition syntax and the processes underlying its design. The system thus formulated contributes to the areas of design research and practice with a theoretical construct about design logic, an interactive computerized plan generator and a combination of a top-down approach for case study analysis and a bottom-up methodology for the derivation of artifacts.

Buthayna H. Eilouti, Amer M. I. Al-Jokhadar

Curve Fitting in Architecture

Abstract

It used to be popular to draw geometric figures on images of paintings or buildings, and to propose them as an “analysis” of the observed work, but the tradition lost some credit due to exaggerated (golden section) interpretations. So, how sure can an art or mathematics teacher be when he wants to propose the profile of a nuclear plant as an example of a hyperboloid, or proportions in paintings as an illustration of the presence of number series? Or, if Gaudi intended to show chain curves in his work, can the naked eye actually notice the difference between these curves and parabolas? The present paper suggests applying the “least squares method”, developed in celestial mechanics and since applied in various fields, to art and architecture, especially since modern software makes computational difficulties nonexistent. Some prefer jumping immediately to modern computer machinery for visual recognition, but such mathematical overkill may turn artistic minds further away from the (beloved!) tradition of geometric interpretations.

Dirk Huylebrouck

Non-Orthogonal Features in the Planning of Four Ancient Towns of Central Italy

Abstract

Several ancient towns of central Italy are characterized by imposing circuits of walls constructed with the so-called polygonal or “cyclopean” megalithic technique. The date of foundation of these cities is highly uncertain; indeed, although they all became Roman colonies in the early Republican centuries (between the fifth and third centuries B.C.) their first occupation predates the Roman conquest. It is the aim of the present paper to show — using four case-studies — that these towns still show clear traces of an archaic, probably pre-Roman urbanistic design, which was not based on the orthogonal “rule”, i.e., the town-planning rule followed by the Greeks, Etruscans and Romans. Rather, the layouts appear to have been originally planned on the basis of a triangular, or even star-like, geometry, which therefore has a center of symmetry and leads to radial, rather than orthogonal, organization of the urban space. Interestingly enough, hints — so far unexplained — pointing to this kind of town planning are present in the works by ancient writers as important as Plato and Aristophanes, as well as in the comment to the Æneid by Marius Servius.

Giulio Magli

Integrated Function Systems and Organic Architecture from Wright to Mondrian

Abstract

The development of an architectural form where the individual parts reflect the integrated whole has been a design goal from ancient architecture to the current explorations into self-organizational structures. Organic architecture, with this part-to-whole association as an element of its foundation, has been explored from its incidental use in vernacular structures to its conscious endorsement by Frank Lloyd Wright. Traditionally Piet Mondrian has not been associated with organic architecture but a closer examination of the artistic and philosophical underpinnings of his work reveals a conceptual connection with organic architecture.

James Harris

Traditional patterns in Pyrgi of Chios: Mathematics and Community

Abstract

Ethnomathematical research has revealed interesting artifacts in several cultures all around the world. Although the majority of them come from Africa, some interesting ones exist in Western cultures too. Xysta of Pyrgi are a designing tradition that concerns the construction of mainly geometrical patterns on building façades by scratching plaster. The history and the culture of the community, the way that this tradition is connected with them, as well as the informal mathematical ideas that are incorporated in this tradition are some of the issues that are explored here.

Charoula Stathopoulou

Geometer’s Angle

Squaring the Circle: Marriage of Heaven and Earth

Abstract

It is impossible to construct circles and squares of equal areas or perimeters precisely, for circles are measured by the incommensurable value pi (π) and squares by rational whole numbers. But from early times, geometers have attempted to reconcile these two orders of geometry. “Squaring the circle” can represent the union of opposing eternal and finite qualities, symbolizing the fusion of matter and spirit and the marriage of heaven and earth. In this column, we consider various methods for squaring the circle and related geometric constructions.

Rachel Fletcher

Conference report

Bridges 2006: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music, and Science

4–9 August 2006, London

Abstract

B. Lynn Bodner reports on the Bridges 2006 conference.

B. Lynn Bodner

Symposium report

Guarino Guarini’s Chapel of the Holy Shroud in Turin: Open Questions, Possible Solutions

18–19 September 2007, Turin, Italy

Abstract

Sylvie Duvernoy reports on the symposium on Guarino Guarini and the Chapel of the Holy Shroud, held in September 2006 in Turin.

Sylvie Duvernoy

Exhibit Review

Zero Gravity. Franco Albini. Costruire le Modernità

Milan Triennale 28 September-26 December 2006

Abstract

Kay Bea Jones reviews the exhibit of the work of Franco Albini in Milan.

Kay Bea Jones

Titel: Nexus Network Journal
Verlag: Birkhäuser Basel
Electronic ISBN: 978-3-7643-8519-4
Print ISBN: 978-3-7643-8443-2
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8519-4