Architectural Geometry class

I'm taking an independent study in geometry next semester, and I'm looking for your advice on what are the most relevant topics to study in regards to applications of geometry/math to architecture, or digital fabrication in general. The main textbook will be Helmut Pottmann's book "Architectural Geometry", which covers many topics of interest, but I'm expecting there are many other topics worth exploring. I'll be using grasshopper/rhino to visualize some of the studies, but where this software allows us to use things like nurbs curves, hopefully the class will aimed at learning what is going on beneath the hood of rhino/GH. (ie. understanding the math behind nurbs, etc.)

The teacher is a math teacher, and he just wants me to come in once a week and teach him about architectural geometry, so the curriculum is wide open. I figured you guys would be the best source for advice on what to study here. Thanks!

Architectural Geometry, Helmut Pottmann

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jon Malkovich on December 13, 2009 at 3:43pm

Yes but tree like structures are nowdays largely used more as an aesthetic category rather than as a pattern of growth.

Permalink Reply by Miguel Vidal on December 12, 2009 at 10:56am

Hi David,

any references you´d recommend about approaching a project not from the form point of view but from the processes behind it?

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on December 12, 2009 at 1:45pm

Read biology instead of architecture. D'Arcy Thompson has already been mentioned, Philip Ball also wrote a bunch of interesting books. You could even consider going further down and look at chemistry. Abiogenesis has a lot to say about how natural (but not living) processes give rise to different forms depending on molecular structures. Blobs, tubes, branching networks, membranes, skeletons, crystalline structures... >>>

In fact, almost all of chemistry and biology is based around optimisation and minimal energy solutions, it's a lot less fuzzy than a lot of people think. Especially aquatic and very small animals have a lot of freedom in form; jelly fish, amoebas, bacteria (+ colonies), corals. I'm sure you can find a lot of literature on cellular structures.

I'll happily give you some book titles I thoroughly enjoyed, even though they probably don't fit this topic very well:

The Selfish Gene (Richard Dawkins)
The Ancestor's Tale (Richard Dawkins)
On Growth And Form (D'Arcy Thompson)
Critical Mass (Philip Ball)
The Self-Made Tapestry (Philip Ball)
Seven Deadly Colours (Andrew Parker)
Infinite Ascent (David Berlinski)
Right Hand, Left Hand (Chris McManus)
Chaos (James Gleick)

I'm not sure if putting any physics books in this list will be helpful. But I do find small bits and pieces of The Road To Reality by Roger Penrose very inspiring, even though most of the book is far beyond me.

I'm as interested as anyone else in good books about this subject. Any recommendations are appreciated.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by Chris Wilkins on December 12, 2009 at 3:43pm

Only one I've read is the first half of Chaos, but I'm happy to see lists of books and ideas, whether or not they stick to the topic. Especially out of this crowd. Funny thing is for someone majoring in architecture, I'm really interested in so many things that don't fit into that field. I've got five semesters left, and there is ample time to explore things listed here, math, or otherwise.

One thing I've been itching to study for years is the Romanesco Broccoli. So far I've only stared at it, cut it open, and then steamed and ate it:

Permalink Reply by Vicente Soler on December 12, 2009 at 4:58pm

Wow, that's very open minded of you to go from reading Richard Dawkins to David Berlinski (I'm sure he is good at maths).

Permalink Reply by Leceta on December 13, 2009 at 5:34am

thank for the references, david!

I personally can recommend those other readings

-The web of life by fritjof capra
-Emergencies by Steven Johnson

and those other two that i have in my "wishlist"

-Gödel, Escher, Bach. By Douglas Hofstadter
about the self-reference phenomena
-De máquinas y seres vivos: Una teoria sobre la organización biológica by Francisco Varela & Javier Maturana.
About the application of cybernetics theory in biology/cognition.

looking for other references!
cheers
leceta

Permalink Reply by Evert Amador on December 13, 2009 at 7:18am

And three more,

"Structure in nature is a strategy for design" by Peter Pearce-

" Biomimycry: Innovation inspired by nature"

Six Not-So-Easy Pieces: Einstein's Relativity, Symmetry, And Space-Time, which may not be on the subject but I found it very insteresting.

Cheers!!

Evert

Permalink Reply by Evert Amador on December 13, 2009 at 7:28am

I'vejust remembered there is a tread on the VB corner about similar stuff!

http://www.grasshopper3d.com/forum/topics/study-of-natural-shapes

EVert

Permalink Reply by Max D on December 13, 2009 at 9:04am

and don't forget "The Culture of Building" by Howard Davis.. as well as Branzi's "Weak and Diffuse Modernity".. to frame the architectural discourse in a wholistic fashion ;D
.. or to make it as such in the first place.

I really don't want to be cynical or politically out of place in this thread, but I've often felt that many of the (formal?) innovations we generate as a profession, hoewever splintered, should be discussed within a framework of what we want Architecture to be, and why. But perhaps that requires another thread, i.e. in the neglected "theory" section.

Permalink Reply by Jon Malkovich on December 13, 2009 at 4:26pm

Hi David,
very interesting.
is that the expression of a linear bezier curve?

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on December 14, 2009 at 3:12am