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Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future

Volume II: The 1500s to the Future

  • Book
  • © 2015

Overview

Editors:
  1. Kim Williams

    1. Kim Williams Books, Torino, Italy

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  2. Michael J. Ostwald

    1. School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia

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    You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

  • The most complete anthology addressing a broad panorama of topics regarding relationships between architecture and mathematics Represents the state of the art of multidisciplinary scholarship in architecture and mathematics Sections dealing with specific historical periods are interspersed with sections regarding theory pertinent to those periods Hard-to-find essays collected in a single work Comprehensive introductory essays to both volumes by the editors provide a guide to the discipline

  • Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

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Table of contents (45 chapters)

  1. Front Matter

    Pages i-xix
    Download chapter PDF

  2. The Revolutionary, The Reactionary and The Revivalist: Architecture and Mathematics After 1500

    • Michael J. Ostwald, Kim Williams
    Pages 1-27

  4. 1500 a.d.–1900 a.d.

    1. Front Matter

      Pages 93-93
      Download chapter PDF

    2. Ottoman Architecture: Relationships between Architectural Design and Mathematics in Sinan’s Works

      • Zafer Sağdiç
      Pages 95-106

    3. The Mathematics of Palladio’s Villas

      • Stephen R. Wassell
      Pages 107-120

    4. Golden Proportions in a Great House: Palladio’s Villa Emo

      • Rachel Fletcher
      Pages 121-138

    5. The Hidden Pavement Designs of the Laurentian Library

      • Ben Nicholson, Jay Kappraff, Saori Hisano
      Pages 139-149

    6. Measuring up to Michelangelo: A Methodology

      • Paul A. Calter, Kim Williams
      Pages 151-164

    7. António Rodrigues, a Portuguese Architect with a Scientific Inclination

      • João Pedro Xavier
      Pages 165-181

    8. Villalpando’s Sacred Architecture in the Light of Isaac Newton’s Commentary

      • Tessa Morrison
      Pages 183-196

    9. Coelum Britannicum: Inigo Jones and Symbolic Geometry

      • Rumiko Handa
      Pages 197-216

    10. The Science Behind Francesco Borromini’s Divine Geometry

      • John G. Hatch
      Pages 217-229

    11. Transformational Geometry and the Central European Baroque Church

      • John Clagett
      Pages 231-242

    12. Are There Connections Between the Mathematical Thought and Architecture of Sir Christopher Wren?

      • Maria Zack
      Pages 243-255

    13. Robert Hooke’s Fire Monument: Architecture as a Scientific Instrument

      • Maria Zack
      Pages 257-267
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Keywords

About this book

Every age and every culture has relied on the incorporation of mathematics in their works of architecture to imbue the built environment with meaning and order. Mathematics is also central to the production of architecture, to its methods of measurement, fabrication and analysis. This two-volume edited collection presents a detailed portrait of the ways in which two seemingly different disciplines are interconnected. Over almost 100 chapters it illustrates and examines the relationship between architecture and mathematics. Contributors of these chapters come from a wide range of disciplines and backgrounds: architects, mathematicians, historians, theoreticians, scientists and educators. Through this work, architecture may be seen and understood in a new light, by professionals as well as non-professionals.

Volume II covers architecture from the Late Renaissance era, through Baroque, Ottoman, Enlightenment, Modern and contemporary styles and approaches. Key figures covered in this volume include Palladio, Michelangelo, Borromini, Sinan, Wren, Wright, Le Corbusier, Breuer, Niemeyer and Kahn. Mathematical themes which are considered include linear algebra, tiling and fractals and the geographic span of the volume’s content includes works in the United States of America and Australia, in addition to those in Europe and Asia.

Reviews

“It presents several alternative historical and theoretical contexts of the relationship between architecture and mathematics which has been pushed to the foreground during the past decades with the increasing use of computer-aided design in their profession … . Historians of mathematics, too, will no doubt find useful material here for their research, especially if they are interested in the more practical concerns that have shaped the development of their field … .” (Yelda Nasifoglu, BSHM Bulletin, Vol. 31 (3), October, 2016)

Editors and Affiliations

  • Kim Williams Books, Torino, Italy

    Kim Williams

  • School of Architecture and Built Environment, The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia

    Michael J. Ostwald

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Architecture and Mathematics from Antiquity to the Future

  • Book Subtitle: Volume II: The 1500s to the Future

  • Editors: Kim Williams, Michael J. Ostwald

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-00143-2

  • Publisher: Birkhäuser Cham

  • eBook Packages: Mathematics and Statistics, Mathematics and Statistics (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-00142-5Published: 11 March 2015

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-34311-2Published: 05 October 2016

  • eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-00143-2Published: 11 February 2015

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: XIX, 690

  • Number of Illustrations: 286 b/w illustrations, 79 illustrations in colour

  • Topics: Mathematics in Art and Architecture, History of Mathematical Sciences

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