Patterns

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TSIROGIANNI KONSTANTINA INTERIOR DESIGNER

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is a set of recurring events or objects. These data are repeated in a predictable manner. Patterns can be based on a template or model which generates pattern elements, especially if the elements have enough in common for the underlying pattern to be inferred, in which case the things are said to exhibit the unique pattern.

This issue captures a research concerning the important role of patterns in architecture and design. The main points are the associations between patterns in nature, in decoration, in architecture as well as in parametric design, urban planning and the new field of biomimicry in design.

Our world is surrounded by patterns. Patterns are repetitive facts or forms that are obvious in nature and in man-made world. Some of them are visible while others are not, considering nature and the living creatures, our senses, they way we think, time. Patterns can range from energy to matter. If we consider the creation of nature systems we can realize that there is an association between energy and matter.

The science of pattern making is called “pattern formation� and examines the results of self-organization process and the common characteristics and principles underlying on similar patterns. The identification of these patterns is called pattern recognition. The recognition of patterns has liberated and opened new horizons in architecture, recognizing the importance and the possibilities that can be offered in design.

CONTENTS

NATURE

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DECORATION

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ARCHITECTURE

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URBAN

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PARAMETRIC

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PATTERNS ARE EVERYWHERE IN NATURE Patterns in nature do not stand alone they are a part of complex relationships...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Everything in the world we live is connected. The study of patterns in nature gives us the opportunity to understand the connections of our world and ourselves. We are surrounded by both living and non-living patterns. Patterns in nature do not stand alone they are a part of complex relationships.

Every object always has an effect on another. For instance, a fish is part of a fish school. The fish school is part of an ecosystem which is part of a food chain that sustains otherwise unrelated species. The system of connectivity is a pattern in itself.

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Clouds, trees, leaves, the symmetry of butterfly wings, the algorithmic nature of sea shells, and the ordered geometry of spider webs are some of the living patterns.

The structure of patterns is evident in natural systems.1 These observations lead to the question where does this order and regularity comes from?

PATTERNS ARE ORDERED AND CONNECTED Where does this order and regularity come from?

Patterns in nature are manifestations and clues to a fundamental order. This order is by itself another pattern.

This order defines the form and the function of a pattern.

Western science claims that everything in nature is ordered and discusses the issues of connectivity and symmetry. Connectivity is essential and the order is achieved because patterns are connected with other patterns.

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The common features of many natural patterns result from mathematical analogies and equivalences in the rules governing their formation whether these rules are expressed in terms of continuum equations describing, say, diffusion and transport of material, or as local interactions between the components.2 Some of the mathematic concepts behind pattern formation are the Fibonacci Sequence, the Golden Ratio and a less known concept called Voronoi Tessellations. The golden ratio, the number φ (phi), can be found unexpectedly in a lot of places in nature.

Even a section of human DNA appears to integrate seamlessly into a golden decagon. Fibonacci numbers came from a Mathematician called Leonardo Fibonacci. The sequence of these numbers has a specific characteristic: each term is the sum of the previous two terms.

For instance, the centre of a sunflower is an ordered collection of natural objects called florets. By observing the floret pattern of a sunflower we can realise that it is laid out in a definite geometrical order. If you were to magnify the photo and measure the angle between one floret and its outbound neighbour along a spiral, you will find that there is a constant angle of 137.51 degrees. The structural order in the florets is very specific as there are arranged spirals going left and right from the centre of the flower. This is called Fibonacci Spiral and is based on a series of numbers known as the Fibonacci numbers. The Fibonacci numbers are Nature’s numbering system. They appear everywhere in Nature, from the leaf arrangement in plants, to the pattern of the the bracts of a pinecone, or the scales of a pineapple.1

Fibonacci sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, 233, 377, 610...

The key feature of fractals is that they are irregular and self similar.

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In 1967, the mathematician Benoit B. Mandelbrot raised the seemingly simple question: “How big is the coastline of Britain? “. After a brief thought one realizes that the question is not as simple as it seems, since the answer depends on the scale of the map that we are going to use to measure the coastline.

The more detailed is the map the bigger is the value for the coastline. This attribute results because the coastline is a fractal geometric object or form, as usually called, fractal.

Fractal geometry is the geometry of irregular shapes that we find in nature. In Euclidean geometry, we learn about lines, circles, squares, cubes, cylinders and spheres.

But in nature there are more shapes and forms such as clouds, lightning, ice crystals, sponges which have a complexity that is nothing like the simple geometric objects of “classical” geometry. Chaos suggests that self-similarity is a fundamental principle that allows building blocks to mimic their own shape in the building they make. The key feature of fractals is that they are irregular and self similar.

Self-similarity means that as the magnification of an object changes, the shape (the geometry) of the fractal does not change. A fractal pattern looks the same close up as it does far away. When we look very closely at patterns that are created with Euclidean geometry, the shapes look more and more like simple straight lines, but when you look at a fractal with greater magnification you see more and more detail.

We see self similarity in a fern leaf, a snowflake, our lung structure, the path of a forest fire, in our intestines, the Internet, temporal processes such as music, social behaviours, and many other patterns in nature.1 For instance, the fractal set that looks like a fern leaf has dimension 1.8 that classifies it among a line, which has geometric dimension 1, and a surface, which has geometric dimension 2. It is something that is “between” a line and a surface, without being any of the two.

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Many patterns were used for decoration through time. Most of them were influenced by religion, geometry and mathematics...

ORDER, SYMMETRY, REPRESENTATION

NEOLITHIC PATTERNS

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thought to be symbolic, diagrammatic and apotropaic. The apotropaic function of patterns designed to prevent evil spirits from engaging them in the unravelling of an impossibly, complex design signals also the pleasures of pattern remaking and unmaking, as with cryptography, puzzles, jigsaws, riddles and enigmas.3

BYZANTINE PATTERNS

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In the Byzantine era decoration reflects royal and faith, at the head of a theocratic society. Therefore, most of the decorative art pieces considered the importance of the religious aspects. These expectations were established basically in mosaics and textiles.

Byzantine achievements in mosaic decoration brought this art to an unprecedented level of monumentality and expressive power.

Mosaics were applied in many surfaces of Byzantine churches in an established hierarchical order. Generally during the Byzantine period we can see the use of patterns in floors, textiles, vitro and devoted objects. The most common decorative repeated patterns are the cross, geometric shapes, plants and flowers.

ANCIENT/WESTERN PATTERNS

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The ancient Greek meander symbol is the symbol of triumph and unity, a representation of the infinite and eternal life. Some scholars believe that it is inspired by the numerous bends of the river Maeander, which has a total length more than 500 kilometres and is located in south western Turkey in ancient city of Caria. The swastika is a common pattern in contemporary architecture, in Indian art as well as in ancient Western architecture found in mosaics, sculptures, and other works of art in the ancient world. Ancient Greek architecture and textiles are often decorated with the recurring pattern of swastika which is often combined with meanders.

The swastika is commonly found as a repeated element in mosaics and benches and represented the constant motion, reflecting the design of a rotating windmill or watermill. Common architectural patterns in ancient Rome were edgings with linked swastikas which exist also in most recent buildings as a neoclassical element. Swastikas have also been found on pottery in archaeological excavations in ancient Kush.

MANDALA/THIBET

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The word “mandala� means circle and comes from the Indian of Sanskrit. The source of Mandala is the centre as a dot and it is far from than a simple shape. It represents completeness like a structural diagram of life related to the infinite. They are associated with both the Buddhist and Hindu religion and the hymns of some rituals dominated by cyclicality. Tibetans believe that the universe originated from these hymns, which contain genetic patterns of beings and things. They can be found as a sum of geometric shapes that symbolize the universe. Τhe sand mandala pattern is also a diagram of a world pattern, a cosmogram, and of a Buddhist divine palace.

ISLAMIC PATTERNS

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Patterns are also fundamental to Islamic architecture because of the central metaphysical concept of Nizam, or pattern, a key aesthetic, epistemological and ontological category in Islamic philosophy where wisdom (tawhid) consists of recognising and understanding ‘patterns within patterns’.3 Arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of rhythmic linear patterns, knitting leaves, tendrils and simple lines. Arabesques are a fundamental element of Islamic art but they develop what was already a long tradition by the coming of Islam. They symbolize the infinite, and therefore uncentralized, nature of the creation of the one God (Allah). An issue that is highly debated is the connections between arabesque and Arabic knowledge of geometry.

Some historians believe that there is no evidence of such a connection as the knowledge of geometry had not reached.

Others believe that there is a stronger connection with Islamic mathematics for the growth of geometric patterns with which arabesques are often combined with art. In geometric decoration there is use of patterns made up of straight lines and regular angles but are derived as a whole from curvilinear arabesque patterns.

NDEBELE PATTERNS

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In South Africa Ndebele people have a tradition style of house painting. They use symbols that express the pain of the suffering people.

These symbols were the opening for the African art known as Ndebele house paintings. In their painting they use patterns which are repeated with slight variations mostly in colour choice. The geometric patterns are first drawn like an outline and then they are filled with colour. Ndebele patterns are like advertisements, communicative and expressed as spatial and design practices that illustrate changing personal, social and biographical narratives.

The use of patterns in architecture can serve many purposes such as decorative issues, semiotic differentiation, camouflaging and different combinations between them...

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Patterns can be explored as designed patterns that can be applied in different kind of surfaces. Architectural patterns have a lane and deep heredity but they are not expected to have a definite, unitary function. In their evolution they can obtain new functions and lose their prior functions.

The use of patterns in architecture can serve many purposes such as decorative issues, semiotic differentiation, camouflaging and different combinations between them. Ornament and decoration are two terms in architectural history.

In classical architectural theory, decoration was the complementary term for a fundamental distinction and was considered within an overall tripartite division of architecture’s teachings: distribution, construction and decoration, the three fundamental tasks of architectural design.

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Ornament is defined as the sum of an ornamental vocabulary from an epoch or a style. Regarding the formal language of a contemporary building, the architectural elements and patterns can be separated by interpretation.

Rudimentary ornaments can be described as patterns.4

PATTERNS AND BUILDING SKINS The exterior face of a building can be distinguished using architectural or ornamental details. The skin of a building plays an important role as it is a transition between inside and outside. Sometimes the skin functions as a component of sustainability and others just as an ornamental packaging.

+++++++++++++++++++++++ The glass facade of Prada Shop in Tokyo designed

by Herzog and de Meuron consists of various rhombic elements made of glassplanar concave and convex underline the crystalline character of the building.

Reflections created from these incompatible geometries, which enable viewers, both inside and outside the building, to see constantly changing pictures and almost cinematographic perspectives of Prada products, the city and themselves.

The irregular pattern of the facets on the facades frames what is going on inside to produce quasi-cinematic images. The rhombic steel structure is also part of supporting the structure. It is actively incorporated in the structural engineering and, in conjunction with the vertical cores of the building, it supports the ceilings.

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The facade of the Seattle Public Library by OMA build of glass ranked according with the need of daylight. Here the rhombic pattern gives a dynamic appearance which emphasizes the leaning of the building.

Prada Aoyama Tokyo, Herzog & de Meuron

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Eberswalde Technical School Library, Herzog & de Meuron

In Germany, the Eberswalde Technical School Library facade is made of glass panels imprinted with a pattern of images. The patterns come from photos discovered by the artist Thomas Ruff in magazines which he accumulated over the years in his private collection creating a photographic skin of the building like a book turned inside out in a loop across a cube. The entire facade is unified and it is difficult to distinct glass from concrete.

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Another example of patterns in facades are the “sculptural skylights� of Art Centre College of Design, South Campus in California which are clad with printed ETFE film and filter the light to the facilities downstairs.

Foiltec, a leading ETFE manufacturing and design company, worked with Santa Monica (Calif.) firm Daly Genik Architects and graphic designer Bruce Mau to print the custom pattern. During the day, the pattern regulates the amount of light and heat transmitted below. These patterns shift in and out of register as temperature sensors expand and deflate the space in between the polymer sheets.

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The perforated facade of Polish Pavilion in World Expo, Shanghai is inspired by traditional Polish folk-art paper cutouts. It is made of CNCcut plywood and the patterns on the outside of the building continue to the interior space.

The intention was for the structure dÊcor to illustrate and make reference to tradition, but eventually to be that tradition’s contemporary reinterpretation of tradition, a creative addition for today in the way of inspiration rather than replication.

Polish Pavilion, World Expo, WWAA Architects

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design introduces a number of local references from Leicester and John Lewis to a pattern selected from John Lewis’s archive of textile patterns.

The use of pattern is inspired

by Leicester’s 200 years of textiles and weaving, the transparency of saris worn by the Indian population living in Leicester and John Lewis’ own tradition of producing quality fabrics. The pattern is like a textile cladding which varies in density so as to create a variable degree of transparency. There are two layers of glass curtain wall and the mirrored pattern reflects its surroundings around the building.

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FOA Director, Farshid Moussavi, says “Unlike a piece of textile which is flat and fixed, the mirror pattern on the building becomes three dimensional and changes throughout the day.

It reflects the surrounding context, and in doing so, merges the physical context with the cultural context surrounding the project, becoming a richer and denser three dimensional pattern as the sun moves around the building, maximizing the effect of the skin’s role as an architectural fabric that both reveals the exterior to the interior and conceals the interior from the exterior.”

CITY AS A PATTERN The pattern of the city is the way how different functions and elements of the settlement form are distributed and mixed together spatially.

Looking back in time we can realise that there were many city types and the planning of a city was more or less the outcome of different issues such as political and social reasons. The medieval city type, the historic European centres, it is obvious that the centre of social life was moving from the countryside to the city as the capitalism followed feudalism.

During the industrial revolution there is an increase in city development and the shaping of big metropolitan cities, like Manchester begin to grow. While in 1920, the modern city type appears, the functional city where there is free arrangement and vertical construction leading to mass production. A typical example in urban planning of this era is Le Corbusier city types.

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In 1922 he presented his first urban plan of a “Contemporary city”, Ville Contemporaine. He divided the city into functional zones, the commercial district consisting of twenty-four glass towers in the centre and the residential district. The districts were separated by green areas. He believed that this new form would improve the quality of life for the lower classes. Disagreed with Le Corbusier urban planning, Alison’s and Peter’s Smithson urban layer patterns seem to be more community centred.

In their plans they used the term ‘Cluster’ so as not to be related with the concept of the “street”. Smithson’s believed that cars prevent streets from being a place for a resident to be familiar with their environment.

Urban fabric is a complex organizational structure that exists primarily in the area between the buildings.

Each building includes and accommodates one or more human nodes. The urban fabric consists of external and connecting elements such as sidewalks and green areas, footpaths and roads from a bicycle road to a highway.

The pattern of the city is the way how different functions and elements of the settlement form are distributed and mixed together spatially. It can be measured by the size of its grain. Grain is fine when similar elements or functions are widely dispersed throughout the district without forming any large clusters. On the other hand, grain is coarse if different elements and functions are segregated from each other in a way that extensive areas of one thing are separated from extensive areas of other things.5 +

The stronger the connection between them is, the more life exists in a city. The cities manage activities among a large number of people.

To achieve these complex patterns of cooperation are required and this process must be performed under conditions where the activities can constantly changing.

The rules are derived from binding principles in the complexity theory, pattern recognition and artificial intelligence. Any urban landscape can be analyzed in human activity nodes and interfaces. Then, the interfaces are considered as a mathematical problem. Urban design is most successful when a certain number of connections between nodes and activities are created.

Christopher Alexander has developed a theory on the ‘timeless way of building’.

He states that patterns are a linguistic system and calls this system ‘a pattern language’.

According to him, “A pattern language is a system which allows its users to create an infinite variety of those three dimensional combinations of patterns which we call buildings, gardens, towns”.5

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Nowadays the study of urban planning is a controversial issue as there are different theories about the process of design. For instance, the theory of Rem Koolhaas or Venturi about a city is presented like an entomologist that carefully observes and analyzes the movements of an army of “insects”. On the other hand, Philippe Morel considers that the study of urban planning should be integrated in science giving attention to the study of its practices.

A “revolution” is the transition of digital tools to the scale of urban planning.

The new patterns in urban design immerge from smart infrastructure, sufficiency and hybrid models and can be modelled with the digital social networks. The new essential tools for an urban designer are ‘pattern recognition’, sensory mapping techniques and sensitivity to a city’s ecosystem.

Parametricism becomes a new practice for architecture and urban planning.

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Patrick Schumacher in his article “Parametricism-A new Global Style for Architecture and Urban Design” states that parametricism succeeds modernism and brings an end in uncertainty. The complexity of the city is captured through parametric techniques.

Computation has direct relationship with parametricism.

In contrast to Le Corbusiers’ straight lines and order, studies in self-organisization patterns, connections and fields in constant motion is a new area of study. There are not any distinct borders or zones while deformation means the recording of information.

The idea is the interaction of multiple urban subsystems into a single, without a specific city type.

PROBLEM SOLVING IS THE DRIVING FORCE In parametric architectural design the design emerge from relationships between entities or objects rather than static geometry data.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++ New digital design and diagramming techniques lead to the creation of new patterns in architecture.

The ornamental patterns in classical architecture emphasize on the buildings axes and are used to distinguish typical functions but nowadays patterns in spatial design are mainly digital/parametric due to emerging visualization and design technologies.

In parametric architectural design the design emerge from relationships between entities or objects rather than static geometry data.

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The parametric design is usually based on either written algorithm (script) or on a graphic program.

The basic algorithm is the organization of relations, while using the same algorithm the introduction of different parameters can produce different geometries. As a style, parametricism includes the notion of form and the appearance matter but only as a part of performance.

The driving force is problem solving and the attempt is structures to evolve systematically in accordance with environment, like a living organism.

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Pattern becomes an innovative and powerful register of articulation...

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For Patrik Schumacher of Zaha Hadid Architects, articulation is the central core competency of architecture; and designed patterns provide one of the most potent devices for architectural articulation.

Schumacher ushers in a new era of parametric architecture in which pattern becomes an innovative and powerful register of articulation, providing amplification of surface difference and correlation, ultimately resulting in dynamic, highperformance ornamentation.6 The adaptive facade of the Civil Court in Madrid designed

by Zaha Hadid Architects is modulated regarding the changing exposure of the sun. The aesthetic effects of differentiation and inflection are ardent aspects for the parametricist designer. The patterns of the Azerbaijan Cultural Centre in Baku derive from Maori facial tattoos while Zaha Hadid Architects in Paris Philharmonie competition entry apply patterns which follow the orientation of the surface. As the surface orientation shifts the relief pattern transforms. +

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BIOMIMETIC ARCHITECTURE “innovation inspired by nature” Janine Benyus

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ The evolution of parametric design is connected with a new area of study, the study of biomimetics. In architecture they are known as Biomimicry which derive from the Greek word “bios” that mean life and “mimesis” that means to imitate.

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The principles and the patterns found in biology and in nature can be translated in architecture and design. Considering pattern-recognition as a key point, there is potential for biomimetics on problem solving rather than the imitation of biological shapes or forms. The main purpose is that engineering should incorporate the characteristics of biological systems such as low-energy, recycling και durability while the issue is to identify the problems in engineering that can be solved through biology. There are two ways in which biomimicry is applied in design, either proceeding from design to nature or going from nature to design. By cataloguing examples of nature’s unique designs a biomimicry database is created but designers can also study nature and imagining human applications for nature’s designs.

EPILOGUE

Patterns as repetitive elements play a fundamental role in computer science, in artificial intelligence and in biology which leads to the assumption that we should not think patterns as a style or decoration but as an integral part of the natural world. The growth of patterns can shape the future of architecture.

The evolution of technology and the use of computer programming in design along with pattern recognition lead to a new architectural style.

The investigation of patterns, the use of biomimicry and parametric design are expected to improve and bring new potentials in the design process. In a sense the organic forms and patterns that are produced give the impression that everything is part of the natural world but the question is whether this kind of architecture is incorporated within the landscape gracing the human factor as a part of the natural system or it turns out to be own sake of the designer...

BIBLIOGRAPHY BOOKS The Patterns of Architecture: Architectural Design, Issue 6 Mark Garcia, November/December 2009 Petra Schmidt, Annette Tietenberg, Ralf Wollheim (eds), “Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture”, Birkhauser, May 2003 Christian Schittich (Eds.), “Building Skins”, In Detail, Birkhauser 2006

INTERNET SOURCES http://www.abarim-publications.com/SelfSimilarity.html#.UPMacG_ZaSp, access January 2013 http://islamic-arts.org/2011/arabesque-art-of-islamic-spain/ , access January 2013 http://nomadinception.com/gallery-arabic-patterns-islamic-patterns-research.aspx, access January 2013 http://www.artlandia.com/wonderland/glossary/, access January 2013 http://www.herzogdemeuron.com/index/projects/complete-works/176-200/178-prada-aoyama.html, access January 2013 http://www.archinnovations.com/featured-projects/mixed-use/foreign-office-architects-john-lewis-leicester/, access January 2013 http://www.dezeen.com/2010/06/03/polish-pavilion-for-shanghai-expo-2010-by-wwaa-architects/, access January 2013 http://architectureandurbanism.blogspot.gr/2011/12/alison-and-peter-smithson-charged-void.html, access January 2013 http://www.greekarchitects.gr/gr/αρχιτεκτονικες-ματιες/στοιχεία-πολεοδομίας-κεφάλαιο-1-θεωρία-του-αστικού-ιστού-id2411, access January 2013 http://www.ntua.gr/archtech/forum/Diploma%20Thesis_Theodora%20Vardouli.pdf, access January 2013 http://interactive.usc.edu/blog-old/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/Image_of_the_City.pdf, access January 2013 http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-the-arts/history/heritage/le-corbusier, access January 2013 http://www.asknature.org/article/view/what_is_biomimicry, access January 2013 http://issuu.com/salberti/docs/theory3-23, access January 2013 http://www.designboom.com/contemporary/biomimicry.html, access January 2013

REFERENCES 1. http://www.patternsinnature.org/Book/WhyStudyPatterns.html, access January 2013 2. http://www.philipball.co.uk/images/stories/docs/pdf/ADMC_Ball_final2.pdf, access January 2013 3. The Patterns of Architecture: Architectural Design, Issue 6 Mark Garcia, November/December 2009, p. 9 4. Petra Schmidt, Annette Tietenberg, Ralf Wollheim (eds), “Patterns in Design, Art and Architecture”, Birkhauser, p.13 5. http://ethesis.helsinki.fi/julkaisut/mat/maant/pg/lipsanen/043.html, access January 2013 6. The Patterns of Architecture: Architectural Design, Issue 6 Mark Garcia, November/December 2009