Hi Keith,
Regarding Gaudi's process, I believe that rather than trying to see
how gravity worked, Gaudi was calculating the most efficient surfaces
for his designs. I think what is most interesting here is that instead
of using equations to calculate the curves, he utillsed the tendency
of materials to minimise their area (in this case a suspended chain
forming a minimal surface), literally as a sort of "material
computer". The process though which Gaudi calculated his curves is the
same physical process by which a population of molecules in a soap
bubble will organise themselves into a sphere to minimise surface
tension or salt crystalises into a cube to minimise bonding energy.
The work of german architect and structural engineer Frei Otto uses a
similar process to Gaudi, although Otto's research into designing with
minimal surfaces is more extensive.
best
Luke Feast
PhD Candidate
Faculty of Design
Swinburne University of Technology
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
> research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Keith
> Russell
> Sent: Monday, 6 June 2011 11:44 AM
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: lego limits and freedoms
>
> Watching my three year-old grandson playing with his quatro lego (four
> times normal size - discontinued) I noticed how free he was of the
> "rules of lego". That is, he tried impossible things. More
> interestingly, he worked in ways that don't sit all that well with the
> structure. For example, he changed his mind about the base frequently -
> this lead to a few crashes and it led to him working upside-down. His
> upside-down work reminded me of accounts of the process of Gaudi on
> turning models for the Sagrada Família upside-down to see how gravity
> worked. My grandson wasn't looking for gravity but he also wasn't
> trapped into the presumed logic of the blocks.
>
> Soon he will forget this freedom.
>
> Keith Russell
>
> OZ Newcastle
>
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