The Fire Tower was a project by Johannes Itten, one of the most important exponents of the Bauhaus movement. The aim of this paper is to describe the shape of The Fire Tower with the language of linear algebra and give a virtual reconstruction, in order to understand how Itten managed to concretise his strong mathematical intuition in an artistic form, even though he was unable to formalise it entirely with adequate instruments. Movement gives birth to form, form gives birth to movement. Every point, every line, plane, every body, every shadow, every light, every colour, are forms born of movement, which again give birth to movement. J.Itten, 1921
Abstract. Starting from the idea that Mathematics plays an important role in planning any aesthetically attractive and functional construction, this work focuses on curves and surfaces easily recognisable in buildings. Many contemporary examples, but also some intriguing forms connected by classical geometrical questions are illustrated. Nowadays as well in the past, architects often give a splendid interpretation of the beauty of Mathematics; at the same time they introduce modern aspects of this important subject, related to the social and environmental field.…The circle is used to represent perfection, the dome of the heavens. The square represents the heart, the four elements and the rational intellect…( Richard Meier). 1
Lines and surfaces are boundary elements of objects and buildings: it is very important to give the students a mathematical approach to them. Elena Marchetti and Luisa Rossi Costa present linear algebra (by vectors and matrices) as an elegant and synthetic method, not only for the description but also for the virtual reconstruction of shapes.The aim of our activity is to facilitate-and, at the same time, to develop-the comprehension of crucial mathematical tools involved in the realization of forms and shapes in arts, architecture and industrial design and in computer graphics. Another important aspect of linear algebra to be pointed out to the students is its application in graphics software packages, which work with transformations that change the position, orientation and size of objects in a drawing
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.