ORIGINAL QUERY:
Date: Wednesday, 12 September 2002 11:27:42 +0100
From: Tomás García Salgado
Geometrical shapes in architectural plans
In order to attempt an architectural design we sometimes need an historical reference, such as the plan, the constructive system or the style of a certain building genre. While to track the first rectangular or square plan would be almost impossible, in the case of circular plans we have Stonehenge (England) or Cuicuilco (México) as the possible firsts - or at least the earliest examples - of such genre.
Now, the question is: what is it the first example - or at least the early ones - for a triangular architectural plan? The condition for such architectural plan is to be a spatial layout with the form imposed intentionally, as it is in the case of Foster's Commerzbank
(Frankfurt) or in the semiotic "A" shape of Steingruber's architectural alphabet, and not that the shape is the result of the urban layout accommodation or the alike. An extended query: what notable buildings have plans based on other regular polygons?
1. Commerzbank, Frankfurt, Sir Noman Foster
2. J. D. Steingruber, Architectural Alphabet, Schwabach 1773
Comments
The Sanctuary of Senhor da Pedra, ObidosThe Sanctuary of the Lord of the Stone (Sanctuário do Senhor da Pedra), outside the walls of Óbidos, where the Nexus 2002 conference took place, is a not very common example of a hexagonal plan in the European religious architecture. The church was inaugurated in 1747 and has a cylindrical outer shape, to which are attached three turrets corresponding to the chapels inside, combined with the regular hexagonal interior making the temple a very harmonious monument. The primitive and unusual stone image of Christ on the Cross is undated and, since many centuries before the church was built, has been as object of religious devotion.
My first thought is the Egyptian Pyramids. They are based on a octahedron split in half on square base or footprint. The angles of each triangle face is approximately < 58 ,
Octagons are easy; an outstanding example from Norman times is the castle in Apulia [Castel del Monte] which was the subject of a long article in the Mathematical Intelligencer.
Plan, Castel del Monte
I believe the Baha'i Temple in Wilmette, Illinois, www.photography-plus.com/project/Bahai.htm is a regular nonagon in plan.
It was built over several decades, beginning before World War II. There are Bahai temples in various places around the world, and I suppose they are all nonagonal.