Archinect - News

University of Seville architecture professor develops new mathematical concept that can impact 'engineering and construction of buildings'

2023-03-20T09:10:00-04:00

During the construction of the university’s new engineering building, Cabeza-Lainez found that calculating the area of a roof with straight lines resting on a semicircle was impossible just by using pi. After 30 years of research, [he] published a paper about his discovery in ScienceDirect [...] Both articles present his proposal of a number psi (Ψ), with a value of 3.140923, close to pi but which can be applied to a versatile geometric form that he calls an antisphere.

According to El Pais, mathematician and architect Dr. Cabeza-Lainez had to develop his own proprietary calculation software in order to prove the equation. He has also published a book on solar light transfer and says the application of psi in various forms can lower costs associated with energy consumption by 50%.

Graphical Abstract of research from "New Simulation Tool for Architectural Design in the Realm of Solar Radiative Transfer" paper by Joseph Cabeza-Lainez, Jose-Manuel Almodóvar-Melendo, Paula Revenga-Dominguez, Inmaculada Rodríguez-Cunill, and Yingying Xu. Published research can be found in MDPI Journal's Special Issue "Sustainable Design in Building and Urban Environment."

He shares with Raúl Limón of El Pais that the new equation can be applied to “a downspout, to a network of pipes, to an earthquake-resistant tower, to 150-foot [50-meter] ships without using columns, even to biotechnological devices” that he's tested through models made with 3D printers. Rail network t...

Win a copy of Joseph Choma's “Études for Architects”, a book of pedagogical design games for architects

2018-08-08T12:25:00-04:00

Design Topology Lab founder and architectural educator Joseph Choma is back with a new pedagogical book called “Études for Architects”, which comes a few years after his acclaimed “MORPHING: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers”.

If you're a new student to design or maybe you want to refresh your skills, this book features a series of pedagogical games that architects can play as a means to design. Thanks to publisher Routledge and Joseph Choma, Archinect is giving away five copies of the book to our readers!

Photo courtesy of Joseph Choma.

Written in straightforward text and featuring explanatory diagrams, the book's learning objectives include: computational thinking and making; introduction to design as an iterative, reflective, and rigorous process; ideas of continuity and discontinuity; and understanding the bias and constraints of analog and digital tooling. It also includes compelling examples of student work to e...

We Are All Scutoids: A Brand-New Shape, Explained

2018-08-01T00:48:00-04:00

Where you have curvature, you have scutoids

Naming a fundamental shape that nature uses at 2018 AD is a credit long overdue. Now the shape architects use has a legitimate public name and official credibility and no longer be called weird. First living architect came to my mind was Frank Gehry. Yours?

"Honestly, in the beginning, we couldn’t believe that nobody before us had named this shape. I mean, geometry has been around forever—the square, the circle. It’s really wonderful that we could name something this fundamental."

Preserving Central Asia's ancient architecture through code

2016-04-07T13:58:00-04:00

It is not enough to just catalogue these [structures] in photos and videos, it is our aim to break down the logic of these patterns, and recreate them in code in order to make them more accessible and possibly allowing them to find new life in contemporary applications. By building an open source library, accessible to architects, artists, mathematicians, and software engineers, we can carry these patterns and traditions forward for future generations.

Lauren Connell (architect at BIG), Alexis Burson (associate at Pei Cobb Freed & Partners), and Baris Yuksel (Google senior engineer) share their architectural and computer engineering perspectives on Project Agama. The collaboration aims to document and digitally preserve the intricate geometric patterns and tilework of ancient Central Asian architecture by converting the patterns to code, which will eventually become a accessible resource for architects to potentially apply in new applications.

The house that a "calculus rock star" built

2015-10-06T14:45:00-04:00

[The Canadian mathematician James] Stewart was...an unlikely architectural trailblazer. He devoted many years of his life, and much of his income, to building his dream home in an upmarket Toronto neighbourhood. Integral House – named after the 'integral', a concept in calculus – is a shrine to calculus, the mathematics of flowing change. Stewart died last December, aged 73, and Integral House is now for sale at £11.4m [approx. $17.4 million]

More about mathematical design on Archinect:

The Golden Ratio: Relevant or not?

Mesmerizing Mosque Ceilings built by Muslims

Win a copy of MORPHING by Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma

The Golden Ratio: Relevant or not?

2015-06-01T13:05:00-04:00

It's bullshit. The golden ratio's aesthetic bona fides are an urban legend, a myth, a design unicorn. Many designers don't use it, and if they do, they vastly discount its importance. There's also no science to really back it up. Those who believe the golden ratio is the hidden math behind beauty are falling for a 150-year-old scam.

Do designers ever follow the Golden Ratio? Is it even relevant in architecture? FastCo.Design writer John Brownlee voices his perspective on the old myth.

Winners of the MORPHING book giveaway

2015-03-20T21:19:00-04:00

In Archinect's latest book giveaway, we received over 100 responses for MORPHING: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers. Authored by Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma, Morphing is a pedagogical guide that can help architects, designers, students, and enthusiasts to understand in greater depth the trigonometric transformations and functions behind the digital design tools they use.

The three lucky winners are:

Brian, Columbus
Chris, New York
Nicholas, Vancouver

Congrats! And a great big thank you to everyone who participated.

Joseph Choma shared more details about Morphing, which you can read here.

Win a copy of MORPHING by Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma

2015-03-10T14:11:00-04:00

MORPHING: A Guide to Mathematical Transformations for Architects and Designers is not your high school math coursebook. Authored by Design Topology Lab founder Joseph Choma, Morphing is a pedagogical guide that can help architects, designers, students, and whoever is interested in the topic to understand in greater depth the trigonometric transformations and functions behind the digital design tools they use.

Since its release in January by Laurence King Publishing, Morphing has garnered positive reception. "I am particularly curious to see how readers of Morphing may identify alternative approaches to the inquiry, " Choma shared via email. "After all, Morphing can be seen as a guide through my own thought process into mathematics."

With that said, Archinect is giving away Morphing to three of our readers! To enter the book giveaway, fill out this survey by Wednesday, March 18, end of day. Winners will be chosen at random. Good luck!

Scroll down further for more insight into the book f...

The world's greatest buildings provide a window on great math and great design

2013-02-04T17:56:00-05:00

Roof structures of this size and complexity cannot be built without an explicit geometry that can be expressed mathematically. Without such a mathematical model, it is not possible to calculate the loads, stresses, and rotational forces to which the vaults will be subjected and to estimate the impact of wind and temperature changes on their stability. Parabolas and ellipses were Utzon's first choices for the profiles of the vaults, but neither provided a buildable option.

Design Topology Lab

2011-08-18T12:47:16-04:00

This is the first research practice dedicated to the ontology of space defined by mathematics.