Symmetry Orbits / Edition 1

by Hugo F. Verheyen

Overview

In a broad sense design science is the grammar of a language of images rather than of words. Modem communication techniques enable us to transmit and reconstitute images without needing to know a specific verbal sequence language such as the Morse code or Hungarian. International traffic signs use international image symbols which are not An image language differs specific to any particular verbal language. from a verbal one in that the latter uses a linear string of symbols, whereas the former is multidimensional. Architectural renderings commonly show projections onto three mutually perpendicular planes, or consist of cross sections at different altitudes capable of being stacked and representing different floor plans. Such renderings make it difficult to imagine buildings compris­ ing ramps and other features which disguise the separation between and consequently limit the creative process of the architect. floors, Analogously, we tend to analyze natural structures as if nature had used similar stacked renderings, rather than, for instance, a system of packed spheres, with the result that we fail to perceive the system of organization determining the form of such structures.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780817636616
Publisher:	Birkhäuser Boston
Publication date:	01/26/1996
Series:	Design Science Collection
Edition description:	1996
Pages:	236
Product dimensions:	8.27(w) x 11.69(h) x 0.02(d)

Table of Contents

I Realization of Symmetry Groups.- 1 Groups of Isometries.- 2 Symmetry Action.- 3 Orbit Systems.- II Compounds of Cubes.- 4 Classification of the Finite Compounds of Cubes.- 5 Stability of Subcompounds.- 6 Higher Descriptives.- 7 Assembling Models.- Appendix: Historical Survey.- References.- Illustratory Contributions.