Stanley Tigerman & G. T. Crabtree – The Formal Generators of Structure
Sunday, 14 July 2013
The Formal Generators of Structure – Stanley Tigerman & G. T. Crabtree
Architect Stanley Tigerman’s ‘The Formal Generators of Structure’ (Architecture & Urbanism Journal, 1975) explored the combinatorial use of rectilinear shapes to generate volumetric, optical and architectonic compositions. Spatial configurations of the square and cruciform are extruded to create axonometric projections reminiscent of the ‘ideal’ geometricism of the De Stijl school and the works of Op-artists such as Albers and Vasarely who toyed with the square to infinity through structural multiplicity and chromatic modulation. Tigermans paper published alongside his series of drawings (with G. T. Crabtree) explores many other examples of squared axonometry in art and architecture noting that:
‘Two rationalizations of the Western World have focused on the unchanging qualities of the right angle. One has been synthesized in art as a formal universality in the form of the square. The other has been synthesized in religion as a spiritual universality in the form of the cross’
The Formal Generators of Structure – Stanley Tigerman & G. T. Crabtree
While pinpointing fundamental expressions of the square, historically, such as the Golden Rectangle and Le Modulor, Tigerman also looks forwards towards future computational strategies for composition.
‘As the world of art, as well as that of science comes to grips with ‘Systems Analysis’ and ‘The Field Theory’, it is necessary to formally analyze certain two dimensional, man-made diagrams to ascertain their fundamental characteristics to better under-stand the role they will play in the forthcoming computerized world of networks and lattices’
