Here is an interesting phrase from Jill Larkin and Herbert Simon’s famous article. It is “Why A Diagram (Sometimes) Worth Ten Thousand Words”; The phrase from the article My Thoughts on “A Diagram…” While perusing this text, I found myself curious about the correlation between “formal languages,” “algorithmic architecture,” “scripting,” and “problem-solving” and why we teach them together. The introduction to these subjects occurred during my enrollment in the Shape Grammars graduate course. Over the past decade, a fascinating re-connection…

Last year, I posted a way to create a Grasshopper command button in Rhino 4 (here). As the scripting possibilities increase in Rhino 5, the new tab feature can be used to put them together. I’ve made 4 of the most used platforms in a tab named “Scripting”. Here is how I did it; Use right-click on the empty area to open the above menu and select “new tab” to create an empty tab, naming it “Scripting. Right-click on the…

I’ve been searching for a method to study the Voronoi subdivision in order to manipulate it. There are well-known algorithms for that. But I thought it would be better if I use a projective approach just as I did in studying hyperbolic space (here). This is the metaphor of inflating balloons. However, I inflated cones instead of spheres. This way, it became possible to modify the algorithm. So I was able to develop a kind of variable Voronoi study here….

Today’s Architectural Geometry course was about platonic solids and different attractor objects in introducing component-based design systems. Benay’s idea was both pedagogical and interesting to test in Grasshopper. I searched for the most fundamental type of attractor solid in creating a composition such as this; There is a subdivided sphere and an attractor sphere. The pull component works great here. You may use multiple attractor solids or different shapes such as platonic solids as attractors. It is quite an easy…

In this exercise, we asked students to develop a method to produce custom tessellations. This is based on the analysis of what is called “Islamic patterns”. We have discussed Eric Brough‘s famous book “Islamic Geometric Patterns”, regarding geometric relationships and linear connectivities via underlying tessellations (such as regular square and hexagonal). Thus, this geometry and drawing exercise is called “Seamless Patterns” in the Design Geometry course at İstanbul Bilgi University. By taking this brief, students generated patterns along with their…

The first-year Architectural Geometry course includes Euclidean constructions as a study of associative geometry. We have exercised the below questions to study this topic. These are three mutually tangent circles, that can be drawn using only a compass and ruler, without built-in tangency functions in Rhino. Such exercises are expected to improve students’ reasoning. We believe architectural geometry education should encourage a conception that allows students to think about what they are doing and control their process, rather than just…

This is my first try at DesignScript syntax. It is quite easy to understand and on-screen reference help seems to work well. It creates regular AutoCAD entities when you run. One of the most important concepts of this language is said to be a kind of associativity that updates objects when any parameter is changed while the script is running. However such associativity is not possible after the script has finished running. If you want to use the regular imperative…

Last week, the first-year architectural geometry course was about pattern deformations. Students are expected to familiarize themselves with 2d drawing, transformation, and control point editing commands while trying to design a deformation. After studying regular and semi-regular tessellations of the plane, they are expected to develop reasoning on the rule-based and iterative processes. This also constructed an underpinning for Basic Design’s “Metamorphosis” study, where they have discussed more conceptual frameworks derived from such systems. Below are some of the results…

The Möbius strip is a famous mathematical object. Although being in three-dimensional space, it is a closed-loop of only one surface and only one edge. This quality alone makes the object an interesting study for computational design. I aimed to create an object to test our new CNC machine. I wanted to test the egg-crate interlocking fabrication method. This is why the study became a Möbius strip fabrication. Apart from its uses in science and technology, here is an interesting…

This is not to explain the method of the Parquet Deformation but to see the potential. After we’ve studied regular, semi-regular, dual, and truncated tessellations with students, the Architectural Geometry course expects them to develop a Parquet Deformation handmade such as those shown below. I call them Parquet Deformation handmade. Because they are manually designed but drawn using traditional CAD. The samples you see below are from this website. It is a good source for other topics of tessellation as well….