Architectural Morphology
An Introduction to the Geometry of Building Plans
Philip Steadman(Author)
Pion Ltd (Publisher)
Published on 1. January 1983
Book
Hardback
280 pages
978-0-85086-086-3 (ISBN)
Description
This is the first introduction to an area of research which has grown up in recent years, and which has begun to answer Lethaby's call of nearly seventy years ago for a programme of theoretical work on the geometry of architectural plans. The work attempts to show how, given suitable geometric definitions of certain classes of plans, systematic methods can be devised for enumerating all possible plans of each type. Particular attention is devoted to rectangular room plans, set within rectangular boundaries - so-called rectangular dissections - since the plans of many actual small buildings, especially houses, approximate to this kind of geometrical arrangement. Computer methods are described in some detail. Mathematical techniques are introduced for the representation of plans and their properties, and it is shown how these plan-generating methods, and the catalogues of plans which they can produce, may be applied in three areas: - in design, in building science, and in architectural history.
More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Sage Publications Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
Illustrations, plans
Dimensions
Height: 230 mm
Width: 150 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-85086-086-3 (9780850860863)
Copyright in bibliographic data is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or its licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Content
The "dimensionless" representation of rectangular plans; symmetries of rectangular plans; generating and counting rectangular arrangements; dissection and additive methods; generating and counting rectangular arrangements; embedded, coloured and weighted graphs of plans; properties of rectangular arrangements, and their classification; floor plan morphology in design; plan morphology and building science; plan morphology and architectural history; afterword - prospects for an architectural morphology. Appendix - diagrams of rectangular dissections up to n = 7 with tabulations of their properties.