Mathematics and Architecture Since 1960

Lionel March ()
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Lionel March: University of Cambridge, The Martin Centre

Chapter Chapter 85 in Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future, 2015, pp 553-578 from Springer

Abstract: Abstract This present survey, based on personal experiences, focuses on the role that mathematical thought plays in furthering generic knowledge of architectural form, and is organised around the three categories identified by Froebel’s proposal for the study of form—quantitative, qualitative and relational . Quantitative studies measure the various material dimensions of form: length, area, volume. The quantitative relationships between building forms, heights, areas of sites, road widths, open areas are examined in early “land use and built form studies”. Qualitative studies of form emphasize spatial transformations, the modern group theory of symmetry, and topological relations. Distinct architectural forms may well be equivalent under symmetry, or topology. An example is given of an application of Polya’s enumeration theorem. Relational studies of form were said, by Froebel, to be “forms of life”. Relations of dimensions, symmetries and topology are now addressed by advances in shape computation.

Keywords: Sonoran Desert; Spatial Transformation; Floor Space; Stone Algebra; Shape Grammar (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:sprchp:978-3-319-00143-2_38

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DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2_38

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