Nexus 2018 Logo Design Competition
The 2018 edition of the “Nexus. Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics” international conference on architecture and mathematics included a competition for the logo. The conference logo appeared on the website, on all printed announcements and posters concerning the conference, and on all conference material. The logo will also appear on the cover of a future issue of the Nexus Network Journal. There as no monetary prize for the winning logo but the designer will receive credit whenever the logo appears.
The winning logo was selected by the members of the Scientific Committee of the conference and also appeared on the covers of the publications containing the abstracts and posters and the Ph.D. Day presentations.
The designer of the logo was asked to capture the “nexus” of architecture and mathematics, the interdisciplinary subject of the Nexus conferences. References to the conference venue in the city of Pisa were also appreciated. Designers had to remember that the logo design as to be meaningful at a variety of scales, from full-size to thumbnail.
The Winning Design for the Nexus 2018 Logo Competition
Winning design by Ivan Mechkunov
The designer's statement:
The coincidence of the Nexus conference venue and the birthplace of Leonardo of Pisa, a.k.a. Leonardo Fibonacci, is the major departing point for the logo design.
The design concept is based on the 3-dimensional representation of the geometrical sequence of squares with Fibonacci numbers as their sides.
The squares with side 1 are the bases of the highest volumes of the composition. The sequence continues with diminishing heights of the volumes with sides 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, etc. of their square bases.
The requirement for the 21x21 cm format of the logo informs the final appearance. Since 21 is a Fibonacci number, the logic of the composition follows naturally the Fibonacci sequence.
The place of the conference is marked by the subtle presence of the Leaning Tower of Pisa – a world famous landmark and a symbol of the city.
Session I: Perspective and Space
Cornelie Leopold, "The Development of the Geometric Concept of Relief Perspective"
Agostino De Rosa and Alessio Bortot, “Hunched Curves in the Vatican: the Vestibule Arch of the Pio Clementino Museum, between Stereotomy and Anamorphosis”
João Paulo Cabeleira Marques Coelho, "Deconstructing the Imaginary Space of a Quadratura"
Giuseppe D’Acunto, “Notes on Oblique Space”
Snezana Lawrence, “Lost and Found: Some Mathematical Messages from Renaissance Tuscany to a 21st-Century Teacher”
Session II: Space and Dimension
Alessandra Capanna, “The Four-Dimensional House Theorem”
Cosimo Monteleone, "The Mathematical Space of Daniele Barbaro"
Laura Carlevaris, "N-Dimensional Perspective: the Mathematics behind the Interpretation of Ancient Perspective"
Session III: Geometry
Stefano Chiarenza, "Peter Nicholson and the First Interpretation of Greek Architectural Mouldings as Sections of a Cone"
Rizal Muslimin, "A Grammatical Investigation of Utzon’s Spherical Schema Evolution"
Antonia Redondo Buitrago, "On Polygons, Set Squares and Mudéjar Carpentry"
Radoslav Zuk, "The Visible and Invisible Geometries of Venice"
Session IV, Part I: Historical Analysis
Francesca Fatta and Domenico Mediati, "The Design of Roman Mosaics in North Africa and their Geometric References"
Asli Agirbas, "Algorithmic Decomposition of Geometric Islamic Patterns: a Case Study with Star Polygon Design in the Tombstones of Ahlat"
Bernard Parzysz, "What We Can Learn from Roman Geometric Mosaics about the People Who Made Them"
John Kendall Hopkins, "A Unified Schema of the Façade of San Miniato Al Monte: the Simultaneity of Interlocking Symbolic Harmonic, Irrational and Perfect Numbers"
Sanaz Ahmadzadeh Siyahrood, Arghavan Ebrahimi and Mohammadjavad Mahdavinejad, "Application of Cubit–Gaz and Shape Grammar in Architecture Plan Design"
Athanassios Economou, "The Six Vitruvian Principles of Architectural Design Reframed within Contemporary Computational Design Discourse"
Roberta Spallone and Marco Vitali, "Regola and Licentia in the Extraordinario Libro by Sebastiano Serlio"
Ornella Zerlenga and Vincenzo Cirillo, "Della Pianta delle Scale of Guarino Guarini"
Anna Marotta, Ursula Zich and Martino Pavignano, "Theories and Approaches in Fortifications Design: the Figure of Gaspare Beretta"
Session IV, Part II: Historical Analysis
Stefano Brusaporci, Pamela Maiezza and Gianfranco Ruggieri, "A Reflection on the Cistercian Bernhardinischer Grundtypus"
Daniele Calisi and Matteo Molinari, "Giuseppe Valadier’s Urban Layout for Piazza del Popolo in Rome"
Isabella Friso and Andrea Giordano, "The Design Process in the Salk Institute by Louis I. Kahn"
Vincenzo Bagnolo, Andrea Pirinu and Marcello Schirru, "Geometrical Design Algorithms in Nineteenth Century Prisons: The Case of the Rotunda in Tempio Pausania"
João Pedro Marque Sêco Dias Carmona, "Urban Morphology of Geometric Pattern in the Villa Imperial de Petropolis"
Arturo Gallozzi and Michela Cigola, "Considerations on the Representations of the Analemma in Renaissance Editions of Vitruvius’s De Architectura"
Session V: Contemporary Analysis
Denise Ulivieri, Lucia Giorgetti and Benedetta Tognetti, "Vittorio Giorgini Spatiology-Morphology Architect: from ‘Curved Systems’ to ‘Conventional Systems'"
Michael J. Ostwald and Michael J. Dawes, "An Isovist Analysis of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Hollyhock House"
Michael C. Duddy, "Logical Accidents: The Problem of the Inside Corner"
Oriel E.C. Prizeman, Camilla Pezzica, Mariangela Parisi and Clara-Larissa Lorenz, "Function Should Follow Form: Futures for the Radiant Logic of Carnegie Public Libraries"
Session VI: Structures and Techniques of Design
Shen Guan Shih and Yi Feng Chang, "Composite Interlocking Structures of SL Strands"
Assunta Pelliccio, Marco Saccucci and Ernesto Grande, "A Key Nexus for Vault Systems from Lecce: Stereometric Correlation between Shape and Structure"
Valentina Beatini, "Morphology of Kinetic Structures by Means of Bar and Plate 4R-Linkages"
Marco Hemmerling and Carlo de Falco, "ArchiFold: an Educational Approach for the Integration of Mathematics in the Architecture Curriculum"
Massimiliano Lo Turco, Ursula Zich, Marco Trisciuoglio, Michela Barosio, Maria Luisa Spreafico and Yoseph Bausola Pagliero, "Algorithmic Modeling and Design of the Architectural Shape: A Didactic Experience"
Fabio Bianconi, Marco Filippucci and Lorenzo Ciculi, "The Form of Music. Experiment Between Cymatics and Engineering"
Session VII: Algorithms and Rule-Based Design
Marco Carpiceci and Fabio Colonnese, "Toward an Algorithm of Visual Design: the Mathematical Approach of Hermann Maertens’ Optische Massstab"
Cettina Santagati, Federico Mario La Russa, Mariateresa Galizia and Eugenio Magnano di San Lio, "Towards a Generic Parametric Algorithm for the Geometric Investigation of Baroque Oval Plans: an Application on Sicilian Cases"
Manuel Alejandro Ródenas-López, Pedro García Martínez, Pedro Miguel Jiménez-Vicario, Adolfo Pérez Egea and Martino Peña Fernández-Serrano, "Parametric Design applied to Analysis and Optimization of Spatial Deployable Structures"
Marie-Pascale Corcuff, "Jules Bourgoin (1838-1908): A Forerunner of Generative Shape Grammars"
Benay Gürsoy and Mine Özkar, "Material Shapes and How to Compute with Them"
Manuela Bassetta, "Form – Formal Making of Traditional Chinese Architecture"
Ph.D. DAY
Jakub Świerzawski, "Curvilinearity in Architecture: Historical and Contemporary Ideas and Examples"
Maycon Sedrez, "Complex or Complications? Fractal Geometry in Architecture and Urban Design"
Willem Gythiel, Mattias Schevenels, Dirk Huylebrouck, "Generating Geodesic Grid Structures by Equally Subdividing Spherical Arc Segments"
Alexandra Castro, "The Curve in Herzog & De Meuron's Architecture"
Paolo Di Pietro Martinelli, "The Control of Illusory Space: The Contribution of Jacopo Barozzi Da Vignola and the Anteroom of the Council In Palazzo Farnese at Caprarola"
Elisabetta Pozzobon, "Religious Architectural Heritage Losing its Functions: Strategies to Mitigate the Problem and Provide New Value through Geographical Context Analysis"
Cristian Boscaro, "La Manière Universelle of Girard Desargues for the Understanding of Stereotomic Structures"
Paolo Borin, "Geometry, Science and Meaning in the Work of Guarino Guarini"
Raffaella De Marco, "Shapes and Models: The Survey for the Study of Structures in Historic Buildings"
Vera Viana, "Architectonic Tessellations as Constructive Modules"
Stefania Landi and Oriol Domínguez Martínez, "Modularity in Ancient Grain Storage Systems: Historical Overview and In-Depth Analysis of Moroccan Fortified Granaries"
Diogo Pereira Henriques, "Envisioning Future Public Spaces: Experiments in Co-Creation and Evaluation of Urban Visions"
Maryam Doroudian, Mohamad Reza Bemanian and Mohamad Javad Mahdavinejad, "Exploring of Topological Architecture: a Review of Topology Influence on Architecture"