Compass and Rule: Architecture as Mathematical Practice in England, 1500-1750 (original) (raw)

Architecture before art: imagining architectural authority in early modern England

Arq-architectural Research Quarterly, 2006

... who make use of their hands and tooles in the grosser materials, since God himself and ... between ideas in the mind and physical construction, like the drawn diagrams of the geometer. ... as the basis for creating knowledge.62 Picturing, whose technique is geometry, becomes an ...

Mathematical practitioners and instruments in Elizabethan England (1991)

1991

A new culture of mathematics was developed in sixteenth-century England, the culture of 'the mathematicalls'. Its representatives were the self-styled mathematical practitioners who presented their art as a practical and worldly activity. The careers of two practitioners, Thomas Bedwell and Thomas Hood, are used as case studies to examine the establishment of this culture of the mathematicalls. Both practitioners self-consciously used mathematical instruments as key resources in negotiating their own roles. Bedwell defined his role in contrast to mechanicians and he secured patronage in military engineering and the service of the commonwealth; Hood worked in the commercial setting of London as a teacher, author, chartmaker, and retailer. Working in new contexts and dealing with new audiences of gentlemen and mechanicians, Bedwell and Hood used instruments to construct a public consensus on the status and aims of mathematics.

Architecture, City and Mathematics: The Lost Connection

2019

The connection between architecture and science and sound based on mathematical relations has continued to develop[ since the rise of the Western classical civilization that originated in Ancient Greece. The mysterious Pythagorean cosmology pursued as secret esoteric knowledge was related to the search of rhythm, proportionality and harmony. Even somewhat earlier, Greek mysteries were based on a concord of music and form. This line of reasoning can be raced as early as when the doctrines of Orphism emerged in early Greece to be followed by the concepts of Pythagoras and his followers and eventually the philosophical school of Neo-Platonists. Early medieval thinkers like St. Aurelius Augustine and Boethius revived and continued this ancient tradition; they sustained and developed further the ideas of dependence between architecture and music (as well as mathematics). Their ideas were further elaborated by later Christian thinkers. Architectural principles practiced by architects belo...

2019 ) 1 − 10 Architecture , City and Mathematics : The Lost Connection

2019

The connection between architecture and sound based on mathematical relations has continued to develop since the rise of the Western classical civilization that originated in Ancient Greece. The mysterious Pythagorean cosmology pursued as secret esoteric knowledge was related to the search of rhythm, proportionality and harmony. Even somewhat earlier, Greek mysteries were based on a concord of music and form; accordingly architectural elements were to conform to musical notes. This line of reasoning can be traced as early as when the doctrines of Orphism emerged in early Greece to be followed by the concepts of Pythagoras and his followers and eventually by the philosophical school of Neo-Platonists. Early medieval Christian thinkers like St. Aurelius Augustine and Boethius revived and continued this ancient pagan tradition; they sustained and developed further the ideas of dependence between architecture and music (as well as mathematics). Their ideas were further elaborated by lat...

Mathematics and the Architecture: The Problem and Theory in Pre-Modern Cultures

2006

There is always a mystery on pre-modern architecture practice on the relation between dimensions and ratios. The reasons of using certain proportions used on the design of religious buildings/ spaces are the result of the application of numerical symbolism and Pythagorean triangle. Thus, the paper will be focused on the unity of theory in premodern architecture practice via giving some special examples of pre-modern architecture through the human history, such as Antique Egyptian and Antique Greek temples, Roman churches, Gothic cathedrals, and so on.

The Role of Mathematics in Architecture and Fine Arts: A Historical Overview, Problems and Prospects

Civil Engineering and Architecture, 2020

In this paper, the author investigates the role and contribution of pure and applied mathematics to architecture and fine arts in a unified manner. To this end, a thorough and explanatory historical overview of this diachronic and interdisciplinary topic, from the ages of ancient Mediterranean cultures to the so-called western civilization of the late twentieth century is presented. In this framework, the author first examines the fundamental role of traditional mathematics (e.g. Descriptive and Projective Geometry) in architectural design and fine arts, and in the sequel the discussion extends to the outstanding contribution of modern and computational mathematics (NURBS, Fractals, Boolean matrices, Graph Theory, etc.) to these issues. Besides, the important role of computer-aided design (CAD) is mentioned and emphasized. Indeed, CAD is an exceptional scientific and technological achievement, the scientific background of which is essentially a combination of Informatics, Discrete Mathematics and Descriptive Geometry. In addition, various existing problems that sometimes hinder the application of the science of mathematics to architecture and the fine arts are highlighted and demonstrated. Finally, given that the most appropriate mathematical background for the graduate studies in architectural schools along with the schools of fine arts is a very difficult and rather questionable issue, some suggestions are made in order to encourage and strengthen the relationship among applied mathematics, architecture and fine arts.

Architecture and Mathematics: Art, Music and Science

1998

It is a great pleasure to write a paper about architecture and mathematics on the occasion of the conference, Bridges: Mathematical Connections in Art, Music and Science. It is architecture's intimate relationship to mathematics that underscores its ties to art, music and science. The subject is too vast to lie within the range of a single discussion; this paper will look at some facets of these various relationships with the aim of introducing the reader to ideas meriting further study.