Nexus Network Journal (2020) 22:549–551

https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-020-00505-0

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR

Vision and Representation in Architecture and Mathematics

Kim Williams1

Published online: 3 July 2020

© Kim Williams Books, Turin 2020

Abstract
Editor-in-Chief Kim Williams examines the role of vision and interpretation in
establishing relationships between architecture and mathematics, and introduces the
articles in Nexus Network Journal vol. 22 no. 3 (2020).

When we talk about relationships between architecture and mathematics, very often
we talk about how an abstract or virtual system (mathematics) underlines a system
of built elements (architecture). What may be less obvious is that our methods for
identifying the two systems and integrating them are very often based on vision.
Our sense of vision allows us to perceive and isolate certain aspects of an entity—a
room, a building, a city—which we can then analyse in relation to other elements or
concepts in order arrive at an understanding of what it is that we are actually seeing.
We are able, for example, to isolate shape and distortion, or pattern and scaling. The
step that follows our vision is that of interpreting what we see. Our interpretations
might take the form of drawings that allow us to see the building as we would never
see it (an undistorted view from on high, with the roof removed), or models that are
capable of abstracting the information on which we wish to focus.
Three of the papers in this issue are concerned with questions of perspective, a
discipline that proposes a distorted representation of a scene or an object in order
to fool the eye. In “Balda​ssare​ Peruz​zi and Theat​rical​ Scene​ry in Accel​erate​d
Persp​ectiv​e”, Philip Steadman takes us to the theatres of the Renaissance where the
stage and scenery were shallow, but the sets give illusions of much deeper spaces—
typically piazzas and receding streets surrounded by buildings—providing evidence
that Sebastiano Serlio learned the technique of accelerated perspective from
Baldassare Peruzzi.
Antonio Ampliato and Eduardo Acosta, in “On the Use of Persp​ectiv​e in a Drawi​ng
Attri​buted​ to Diego​ Siloé”, carefully analyse and reconstruct geometrically a sketch
of a Renaissance urban setting that displays a masterly use of one-point perspective
by the sixteenth-century Spanish architect.

* Kim Williams
[email protected]
1
Corso Regina Margherita, 72, 10153 Turin, Italy

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550 K. Williams

As we know, geometrical perspective was codified in the Renaissance, but

some forms of perspective are found in much earlier works of art. The question
of how perspective was actually developed from ancient times to the Renaissance
was the subject of a long debate. In “N-Dimensional Space and Perspective: The
Mathematics behind the Interpretation of Ancient Perspective” Laura Carlevaris
shows how a late-nineteenth-century superposition of the retinal vision of Euclid,
combined with the curved geometries of Gauss and Riemann, opened the door for a
new analysis of ancient forms of perspective.
Modelling is an important aid in interpreting what is seen. In “Model​ling Based​
on a Certi​fied Level​of Accur​acy: The Case of the Solim​ene Façade” Adriana Rossi
demonstrates how advances in surveying techniques based on high resolution 3D
laser scanners and photographic data make it possible to measure the deviation
between the numerical experimental model and the mathematical model.
In “The House​of the White​Man: A Mathe​matic​al Descr​iptio​n”, Elena Marchetti
and Luisa Rossi Costa also use modelling to reconstruct mathematically the forms
they saw in an icon of the Bauhaus period designed by Johannes Iten.
Mathematical modelling is also used by Alberto Lastra and Manuel de Miguel,
in “Geome​ try of Curve​ s and Surfa​ ces in Conte​ mpora​
ry Chair​Desig​ n”. The
long tradition of chair design has been profoundly influenced by the aesthetics
of architecture and improvements in modern engineering. As they explain, the
knowledge of the implicit equations defining certain varieties allows verification
of whether an object belongs to such a variety or not, whereas the use of
parametrizations associated with the so-called regular varieties allows construction
of the object, at least locally.
Three-dimensional models also play an important role in analysis. In “Model​ling
the Stars​of the Sagra​da Famil​ia”, María de los Desamparados López de Briñas
Ferragut examines the star shapes present in the façade of Gaudí’s iconic cathedral
in Barcelona. Her analysis reveals that their organic appearance is actually based
on a hidden morphology that can be explained by using theoretical models of star
polyhedra.
Measuring can also be an invaluable aid to the visualisation and representation
of objects, as it allows us to quantify what we see. In “Trian​gulat​ion Algor​ithms​ for
Gener​ating​ As-Is Floor​ Plans​”, Filipe Jorge da Silva Brandão, Alexandra Paio and
Adriano Lopes demonstrate how empirical triangulation methods, traditionally used
by architects and other building professionals in surveying building interiors, can be
adapted for the development of semi-automated workflow of room surveys. The goal
is to allow non-professionals to participate in the design process by measuring their
own spaces.
Sometimes the object of measurement is something other than physical
dimensions. In “Measu​ring Visua​l Compl​exity​ of Sedad​ Eldem​’s SSK Compl​ex
and Its Histo​rical​ Conte​xt: A Compa​rativ​e Analy​sis Using​ Fract​al Dimen​sions​
”, Mario Lodeweik Lionar and Özgür Ediz measured the fractal dimension of an
icon of Turkish design in order to verify claims of visual “harmony” between the
architectural design of the 1960s and the urban context into which it is set.
Measurements and measuring devices can even play a symbolic role. In “Groma​tic
Image​ s from New Disco​ verie​
s in Pompe​ ii”, Luisa Ferro, Giulio Magli and
Vision and Representation in Architecture and Mathematics 551

Massimo Osanna present mosaics representing a tool called the “groma” used by
Roman agrimensores, brought to light thanks to recent excavations. Their research
shows that these unexpected images are related to the geometry of the house they
ornamented, and even to the cosmos.
The three contributions in this issue’s “Geometer’s Angle” column take us from
two dimensions to higher dimensions.
As we know, from the Renaissance through the Baroque, enormous time and
effort were invested in understanding the methods to correctly and geometrically
construct images in perspective. In “Paral​lelog​rammu​m Proso​pogra​phicu​m”
Gregorio Astengo presents a surprising case study for a history of early modern
architectural representation, describing a device invented in the 1700s aimed
at doing the opposite, that is, at overcoming the visual effects of perspectival
foreshortening.
In “Hand Drawi​ng in the Defin​ition​of the First​Digit​al Curve​s” Fernando Díaz
Moreno examines the work of two automotive engineers, Pierre Bézier and Paul de
Casteljau, who believed that manual strokes to draw curves were the most effective
model for digital curves, and the inclusion of that model in the present day in the
software used by architects.
In “Islam​ic Geome​tric Patte​rns in Highe​r Dimen​sions​”, Sam Moradzadeh and
Ahad Nejad Ebrahimi develop Islamic geometric patterns from planar coordinates
to three or higher dimensions through their repeat units, thanks to a novel approach
that uses a method of tessellation that generates 3D Islamic patterns called “interior
polyhedral stellations”.

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Kim Williams received her degree in Architectural Studies from the University of Texas in Austin. She
became interested in mathematics and architecture while writing Italian Pavements: Patterns in Space
(Anchorage Press, 1997) about the role of decorated pavements in the history of Italian architecture,
and it has been her field of research ever since. She is the founder and director of the international,
interdisciplinary conference series “Nexus: Relationships Between Architecture and Mathematics”, and
is the founder and coeditor-in-chief (with Michael Ostwald) of the Nexus Network Journal. Her latest
publication is Daniele Barbaro’s Vitruvius of 1567 (Birkhäuser, 2019).