Reconstruction of an Ancient Islamic Fractal Structure - using AutoCAD/Rhino

Exploration of Ancient Fractal Spatial Constructions

Islamic Arches

[Reference: Necipoglu, G. The Topkapi Scroll - Geometry and Ornament in Islamic Architecture, Santa Monica: The Getty Center for Art and

the Humanities, 1995]

The construction of ancient islamic ‘arched-structures’ from simple two dimensional drawings occurred years ago, obviously without any computer technological imput, and thus makes the works of architecture seem even more unbelievable and amazing to the contemporary eye. ‘The black ink out- lines of these pasted drawings, which generally provide the repeat unit of the overall design, were once again generated by various grid systems and often high-lighted with red and other lively colours.’2 The symmetry and repetition effectively aided the design and construction of these architectural elements, whilst representing the divinity of god and nature through the beatuy of unifi ed symmetry.

Fractal Geometry Analysis

Characteristics of Fractal Compositions

[Reference Wolfgang, E. Lorenz. ‘Fractals and Fractal Architecture’. Vienna: University of Technology, 2001]

- Fractals have infinite length, when viewed at a small scale

- They can’t be described by one perameter, like euclidean geometry however in 2D each point of a fractal can be mapped with two co-ordinates (x,y).

- Their composition is defined by a heirachy of geometric size that usually possesses elements all of the same proportion.

- The rate at which the geometry of the elements in the fractal composition decrease/increase in size can be regarded as ‘the rate of infinity’1.

- The ‘self-similarity’ characteristic of fractals enables them to be measured in relation to themselves ( ie. self comparitive analysis.)

(Below: sketches of analysis)