Truchet patterns refer to a set of geometric designs based on simple, repeating shapes, usually tiles or squares. These tiles can be rotated or flipped to create complex and visually interesting patterns. A French mathematician, Michel Truchet introduced these patterns in the 1970s. Since then, you can see them often in art, design, and mathematics. In this short video tutorial, I am modeling truchet relief in Rhinoceros CAD software. My purpose of this modeling process is to demonstrate the basic…

A “hypar” is short for a hyperbolic paraboloid, a double-curved, saddle-shaped surface often used in architecture and structural design due to its unique geometric properties. It is a ruled surface, meaning it can be constructed entirely with straight lines, despite its curved appearance. In this short tutorial video, I am building a beginner-level 3D pattern that resembles the hypar surface. This is a basic drawing exercise to control the viewport and place primitive objects precisely. Thus, more advanced tutorials would…

In art, design, and geometry, folding involves bending or creasing a material, such as paper, fabric, or other flexible materials into defined shapes or patterns. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling a folds relief pattern. This pattern stands out due to its resemblance to a collapsible folding system, combining both structural and aesthetic qualities. We refer to it as a folds relief pattern because it also mimics a relief design, creating light and shadow effects. This video series…

In geometry, a truncated icosidodecahedron, rhombitruncated icosidodecahedron, great rhombicosidodecahedron, omnitruncated dodecahedron, or omnitruncated icosahedron is an Archimedean solid. It is one of thirteen convex, isogonal, non-prismatic solids constructed by two or more types of regular polygon faces. In this short tutorial, I am constructing an irregular truncated icosidodecahedron. It is not the regular Archimedean solid, but a rough approximation of it. I made this model to exercise the exploration of new polyhedra by using rectification and truncation operations. Nevertheless, here…

The sphenoid hendecahedron is a unique and interesting polyhedron. As the name implies, a “hendecahedron” is a polyhedron with 11 faces, while “sphenoid” refers to a specific type of shape that is often unusual, asymmetrical, and typically wedge-shaped. This polyhedron fills space, packing 3D space without gaps or overlaps. Its convex shape allows it to tessellate efficiently. Therefore, space-filling polyhedra play a crucial role in understanding tessellations and geometric arrangements, showing how to occupy 3D space without leaving any voids…

The rhombicosidodecahedron, an Archimedean solid, is one of the 13 convex polyhedra made up of regular polygons. While all its faces are congruent, they consist of various types of regular polygons. I previously explored this fascinating polyhedron and am revisiting it now as part of the Architectural Geometry course. In this short tutorial video, I demonstrate the modeling of a rhombicosidodecahedron. Despite its lengthy and unusual name, this polyhedron is truly a remarkable and beautiful structure. I hope that this…

The Herschel nonahedron is a canonical polyhedron whose skeleton is the Herschel graph. It has 11 vertices, 18 edges, and 9 faces. Of the edges, 6 are short and 12 are long. It is characterized by having nine faces (hence the prefix “ennea” meaning nine in Greek). In this short tutorial video, I am folding Herschel’s enneahedron. To do that, I am constructing the interior angles of this polyhedron using its unrolled net. First, I am drawing the net by…

In geometry, the excavated dodecahedron is a star polyhedron that looks like a dodecahedron with concave pentagonal pyramids in place of its faces. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling an excavated dodecahedron in the Rhinoceros software. I use basic drawing and modeling commands. I aim to introduce this skill to beginner-level architects and designers. As the name suggests, this process includes the construction of the dodecahedron first. Then, the pentagonal faces of this polyhedron were “excavated” to the…

A truncated cuboctahedron is an Archimedean solid, meaning it is a highly symmetrical, convex polyhedron with identical vertices and faces of regular polygons. As its name suggests, you can create the truncated cuboctahedron by truncating (cutting off) the vertices of a cuboctahedron. A cuboctahedron is a rectified cube. After you model it, you can divide all its edges into 1/3s. Then, connect those division points to draw the squares, hexagons, and octagons. In this short tutorial video, I am folding…

An icosidodecahedron is a polyhedron that is part of the family of Archimedean solids. It has 32 faces, consisting of 12 regular pentagonal faces of a dodecahedron and 20 regular triangular faces of an icosahedron. It is highly symmetrical, with the same arrangement of faces around each vertex. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling and unrolling an icosidodecahedron. This polyhedron is very interesting and is mostly used as a basis for more sophisticated designs. Its dual polyhedron is a rhombic triacontahedron,…