Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/28753

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Title
Ethics and geometry: computational transformations and the curved surface in architecture
Author/Creator
Ostwald, Michael J.
Description
In recent years the development of computational algorithms for the transformation of shapes has made the process of producing curvilinear forms deceptively simple. Even the most banal CAD program can generate complex three dimensional shapes, and associated building designs, without the designer having to display any detailed knowledge of geometry or indeed the history of similar forms and their relative successes and failures. This paper asks whether such a situation in innately problematic or not? The production of intricate architectural forms has historically occurred in an environment that is aware of the cultural, political or symbolic importance of the curved form. For example the archetypal Baroque compound curve found in the facade Borromini's S. Carlo alle Quattro Fontane has both regular sinusoidal flowing surfaces along with more dynamic syncopated curves constructed of broken oval segments. Such curves responded to the social, symbolic and phenomenological needs of the era and indeed, because of this, can be seen to have an ethical function (as argued by critics such as Ruskin or more recently Harries). The paper analyses a series of recent examples and experiments which have employed computer generated curvilinear geometric forms to interrogate the extent to which such architectural techniques, which rely on geometric transformation, can be seen as having and ethical foundation. Through this analysis the paper argues for the importance of geometry in architecture as being more than simply a formal tool, but rather a device which has wider significance and more important properties and potentialities.
Relation
Nexus VI: Architecture and Mathematics p. 77-92
Relation
http://www.kimwilliamsbooks.com/NexusVI.htm
Date
2006
Publisher
Kim Williams Books
Keyword(s)
computational algorithms;  transformation of shapes;  curvilinear forms;  CAD;  architectural forms
Resource Type
book chapter
Identifier
http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/28753
Identifier
ISBN:8888479147
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Subject
"Ethics and geometry: computational transformations and the curved surface in architecture"
 
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