Title
Introduction
Formal Methods
Group Theory
Methodology
Implementation
Epilogue
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Din's PhD Dissertation - EMERGENT SYMMETRIES
A Group Theoretic Analysis of an Exemplar of Late Modernism: The Smith House by Richard Meier
ISBN: 978-3-639-11785-1 Copyright2009 by author and VDM Verlag Dr. Muelller - Saarbrucken
Formal methods in design have been used for systematic
studies in analysis and synthesis of form. The group theoretical
approach provides the mathematical language for symmetry, one
of the cornerstones of formal composition in architectural design.
The recent emphasis of architecture discourse on issues of pattern
making and parametric variation only reaffirms the traditional
role of symmetry. Still, even if contemporary emphasis on pattern
making extends the research in new trajectories, some basic questions
regarding the extent of fitness and value of symmetry in formal
composition remain unanswered.
This work builds upon recent methodological approaches in the
field (March 1998; Park, 2001; Economou, 2003, 2005) and proposes
a model that investigates whether the combination of existing
group theoretical formalisms with appropriate systems of representation
based on 'work on surface' can indeed cast new light in analysis.
The object of analysis has been polemically selected here to be
the NY5 architecture, a set of designs that are all clearly exemplifying
formal qualities of abstraction, layering, complexity, depth and
so on, all appearing impenetrable to a systematic and rigorous
analysis using the existing group theoretical formal methods.
One specific case study fully illustrates the methodology of analysis,
the Smith House by Richard Meier. All plans of the house are represented
in three different levels of abstraction moving successively away
from the architectural representation to a purely diagrammatic
one that foregrounds divisions of space. All representations are
fed into an analysis algorithm to pick up all symmetry relationships
and the parts are constructed as instances of a binary composition
of a family of rectangular grids. Finally the process is reversed
to fully account for the construction of the space of the house
as a three dimensional layered composition.
Dissertation Committee |
Dissertation Committee Chair: |
Dr. Athanassios Economou |
Georgia Institute of Technology |
Advisory Committee Members: |
Prof. Charles Eastman |
Atlanta, GA30332 USA |
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Dr. John Peponis |
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Dr. Ellen Yi-Luen Do |
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Dr. Terry Knight, MIT |
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