Architectural and Urban Subsymmetries

This book focuses on symmetries in the analysis and synthesis of architectural designs. Crucial in the history of architecture, principles of symmetry provided the means to achieve balance and harmony of spatial composition in architecture. Less well known is the importance of symmetry principles in the analysis of the distinct constituents in a contemporary architectural design which may, at first glance, appear disorganized or even random. The revelation of different hierarchical levels wherein various types of symmetry or subsymmetry are superimposed provides a key for deciphering the underlying structure of spatial logic. The interaction between local and global subsymmetries is of particular interest. Operating with symmetry concepts in this manner offers architects, designers and students an explicit method for understanding the symmetrical logics of sophisticated designs and gaining insights into new designs.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Foreword                                                                                                      

Preface

Part I: Fundamentals of subsymmetries

Chapter 1. Spatial transformations of shapes

1.1 Isometries of a plane

1.2 Similarity transformations

1.3 Groups and symmetries

1.4 Regular polygons and multiplication table

1.5 Subgroups

Chapter 2. Plane symmetry groups

2.1 Cyclic and dihedral groups

2.2 Seven frieze groups

2.3 Seventeen wallpaper groups

Chapter 3. Cayley diagrams

3.1 Cayley diagrams of the point groups

3.2 Cayley diagrams of the frieze groups

3.3 Cayley diagrams of the wallpaper groups

Chapter 4. Subshapes and subsymmetries

4.1 Subsymmetries of regular polygons

4.2 Lattices of the subsymmetries of the frieze groups

4.3 Lattices of the subsymmetries of the wallpaper groups

Part II: Decomposition and Recomposition of Architecture and Urban Designs

Chapter 5. Subsymmetries of the point groups in architectural designs

5.1 Architecture and urban designs in antiquity

5.2 Modern examples

5.2.1 Frank Lloyd Wright’s use of mirrored and rotational symmetry

5.2.2 Rudolph Michael Schindler’s unique elaborations of subsymmetries

5.2.3 Gregory Ain’s Mar Vista Track Project

5.2.4 Subsymmetries of two civic works by modern architects

5.2.5 Constructing new designs with subsymmetries of the point groups

Chapter 6. Subsymmetries of the frieze groups in architectural designs

6.1 Gregory Ain’s “paired and mirrored” method

6.2 Superimposed floor plans and stacked massing

6.3 Façade manifestations

6.4 Sectional wall layers

Chapter 7. Subsymmetries of the wallpaper groups in architecture and urban designs

7.1 Culturally embedded building facades and screens

7.2 Incremental housing designs

7.2.1 Charles Correa’s clustering method

7.2.2. James Stiring’s incremental clustering and further experiments

7.3 High-rise housing projects

7.3.1 Le Corbusier’s influences and after

7.3.2 Two mega housing and further design experiments

7.4 Urban layouts based on the wallpaper subsymmetries

7.4.1 Expansion to urban planning

7.4.2 Experimental urban layouts

Conclusion

Bibliography

Jin-Ho Park teaches architectural design, formal theories, and history as a professor in the Department of Architecture at Inha University, Korea. Prior to joining Inha University, he taught in the School of Architecture at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA as an associate professor with tenure. He earned his Ph.D. in architecture from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He served as corresponding editor of the Nexus Network Journal and is now a contributing editor Open House International (Emerald Publishing). His research has been published in various referred journals, nationally and internationally. His book publications include Designing the Ecocity-in-the-Sky (Images Publishing 2014) and Graft in Architecture: Recreating Spaces (Images Publishing 2013).