Archives for the Month of May, 2013

René Binet – Esquisses Décoratives & the Protozoic Façade of Porte Monumentale

La Porte Monumentale  - René BinetLa Porte Monumentale – René Binet

René Binet’s Esquisses Décoratives contains a sequence of architectural designs based on the biological and morphological illustrations found in Ernst Haeckel’s well-known ‘Art Forms in Nature’. Envisioning tiny shell-like skeletons as monumental architectural structures, Binet [1866–1911] scaled Haeckel’s microscopic biomineral creatures into decorative amoeboid façades, protozoic trellises and Art Nouveau designs sprawling with heliozoic motifs.

A PDF of René Binet’s complete Esquisses Decoratives can be found here.

 Esquisses Décoratives  - René Binet Esquisses Décoratives – René Binet

 Esquisses Décoratives  - René Binet Esquisses Décoratives – René Binet

 Esquisses Décoratives  - René Binet Esquisses Décoratives – René Binet

 Esquisses Décoratives  - René Binet Esquisses Décoratives – René Binet

 Esquisses Décoratives  - René Binet Esquisses Décoratives – René Binet

Binet’s study of Haeckel’s lithographs of radiolaria culminated in the design for his Monumental Gate, located on the Place de la Concorde, at the Eastern entrance of the Exposition Universelle (World Faire) held in Paris in 1900. Gustave Geffroy notes in his introductory foreword to Esquisses Décoratives that Binet’s main inspiration for ‘Porte Monumentale’ were a family of radiolaria known as Cyrtoidea. The design was heavily based on one radiolaria illustration alone – the Cyrtoidea Pterocanium trilobum.

La Porte Monumentale  - René BinetLa Porte Monumentale – René Binet

Cyrtoidea – Ernst HaeckelCyrtoidea – Ernst Haeckel with Clathrocanium reginae [top row, second left] and Cyrtoidea Pterocanium trilobum [middle row, far right]

La Porte Monumentale  - René BinetLa Porte Monumentale – René Binet

According to Geffroy ‘Binet viewed the Clathrocanium reginae as the most beautiful and a perfect representation of the richness and logic of the Radiolaria family’ In doing so Binet becomes a solid precursor to current trends in parametric architectural design dealing with the explicit rendering of natural forms and structures.

Raven Kwok – Subdivision Organisms & Mutation Topologies


EDF0 – Raven Kwok

Raven Kwok combines recursive geometry with elastic easing motions, in Processing, to create animations composed of nebulous subdivided structures that organically transform and reconfigure over time. Works such as EDF0 insinuate the membranous structures of soap bubbles and foam dispersions well as the complex symmetry of micro-marine organisms such as Radiolaria. The works also retain the hard edged self-similar qualities of classic fractal structures such as the Sierpinski Gasket.

EDF0 - Raven KwokEDF0 – Raven Kwok

EDF0 - Raven KwokEDF0 – Raven Kwok

EDF0 - Raven KwokEDF0 – Raven Kwok

EDF0 - Raven KwokEDF0 – Raven Kwok

18F44 - Raven Kwok18F44 – Raven Kwok

18F44 - Raven Kwok18F44 – Raven Kwok

18F44 - Raven Kwok18F44 – Raven Kwok

18F44 - Raven Kwok18F44 – Raven Kwok

18F44 - Raven Kwok18F44 – Raven Kwok


18F44 – Raven Kwok

Ravens most recent work, 18F44, extends EDF0 into three dimensions by implementing z-axis protrusions using groups of intersecting planes. In addition he has created a mechanism which allows separate control of nested levels within this complex structure resulting in erratically animated topologies and mutating surfaces.

Related posts:
Year of the Radiolarian
Real World Menger Sponge

Kyuha Shim – Spherical Form Constants & Syllabic Constructs

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Kyuha Shim, a research fellow and data visualization specialist at SENSEable City Laboratory, MIT, has created a series of works exploring the extrusion of classic 2-D mandala geometry into 3-D objects. After first realising some software, in Processing, to create hypotrochoidal and epitrochoidal forms he has subsequently generated spheres with subdivided surfaces whose facet heights are based on their brightness. Other forms appear to explore the periodic tessellation of spheres to create ornamental globes and spherical representations of form constants.

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

One of the models Kyuha used in his research was the Tibetan Vajradhatu Mandala [Diamond Realm]. Vajradhatu is unique among many others in that it employs recursive geometry extending from its center-point or axis-mundi. The cosmological architectonic paradigm of the Vajradhatu is defined by cardinal self-containing circles [thoughtforms]. These patterns are visual representations of the inflections of mantra and prove that geometry is a much better way then any other to depict the cyclic internal doWhile() loop of self-similar, rhythmic, syllabic constructs.

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Mandala - Kyuha ShimMandala – Kyuha Shim

Related Posts:

Temari – The art of Japanese Threadballs
Spherophilia – A Survey of Spheroids
Louise Despont – Geometric Channeling
The Jantar Mantar & The Algomantra
Jonathan McCabe – Biological Mandalas