Explicit and Implicit Geometric Orders in Mamluk Floors: Secrets of the Sultan Hassan Floor in Cairo

Gulzar Haider () and Muhammad Moussa ()
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Gulzar Haider: Beaconhouse National University, School of Architecture
Muhammad Moussa: HHCP Architects

Chapter Chapter 33 in Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, 2015, pp 483-496 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This paper presents the first detailed measurement, drawing and geometric analysis of the largest Mamluk floor (32 × 34.6 m), the conceptual heart and morphological horizon of the Sultan Hassan Mosque-Madrassa Complex of Cairo, Egypt (1356–1362). Computer-aided geometric analysis has revealed a level of sophistication in intentions and production, which could not have been deciphered otherwise. These rather difficult relationships are encoded in the floor's geometry through basic symmetry operations and the interstitial color configurations of the floor patterns. The research process has yielded unexpected insights into the hidden dynamic (rotational) geometric orders brought together through the use of colors into the manifest static impression of balance and harmony. Resonance with the symbolic rotation rooted in cosmological doctrines, circumambulations of a pilgrim or even the whirling of a mystic is academically intriguing.

Keywords: Symmetry Operation; Line Geometry; Axial Twofold Symmetry; Islamic Architecture; Geometric Order (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-00137-1_33

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00137-1_33

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