Small 4-wall Architectures

Project Description |

Small 4-wall architecture is a conceptual project inspired by Louis I. Kahn. In Louis I. Kahn's plans, the simple geometries such as squares, triangles, rectangles are composed as a geometric context. And, some lines are eliminated and some lines are kept to create openings, circulations and spaces. This project is aimed to explore the compositions of 4 lines by using ARGO. In each plan shown here, there are 4 lines with various compositions, for example, one L-shape (2 lines) plus one Cross-shape (2 lines), one T-shape (2 lines) plus two floating lines, or 4 floating lines.

Fig.01 - Louis I. Kahn, Dominican Sisters’ Convent, First Floor Plan, Media, Pennsylvania, 1965-1968

4-line figures and 4-wall architectures |

To explore the possibilities of 4-line compositions, ARGO is used in this test. In the beginning, some simple geometries are placed together to form the context. Then, the user can draw any 4-line shape and input the shape to ARGO and it will list out all the isomorphic results. Some compositions have a lot of topological results (more than 1900), some compositions only have less than 8 topological results. By selecting some interesting results and thickening the lines to form the walls, small architectures with 4 walls are presented.

Fig.02 Compositions of L-shape and T-shape (Context: Two Squares, One Triangle)

Fig.03 Compositions of X-shape and T-shape (Context: Two Squares, One Triangle)

Fig.04 Compositions of J-shape (Context: Two Squares, One Triangle)

Fig.05 Compositions of C-shape/Z-shape and One floating line (Context: Two Squares, One Triangle)

 Fig.06 - Compositions of L-shape and T-shape (Context: Two Triangles)

  Fig.07 - Compositions of L-shape and two floating lines (Context: Two Triangles)

  Fig.08 - Compositions of 4 floating lines (Context: One Triangle and One Square)

  Fig.09 - Compositions of two L-shapes (Context: Two Squares)

 Fig.10 - Compositions of L-shape and T-shape (Context: Two Squares)

 Fig.11 - All compositions of L-shape and T-shape (Context: Two Squares)

Fig.12 - Small 4-wall Architecture example