The Muqarnas Plate Found at Takht-I Sulayman: A New Interpretation

Dold-Samplonius, Yvonne; Harmsen, S.

doi:10.1163/22118993-90000084

Cited by 13 publications

(7 citation statements)

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“…Despite its pervasive presence in the built environment, there are only a limited number of written studies on muqarnas available. Muqarnas has been examined under different titles in the literature such as stalactite vault, 7 muqarnas vault 7,15,16 and muqarnas dome. 15,17 Most of the studies on muqarnas focus on its decorative potential and neglect the structural potential of this vault-like form.…”

Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Al-Kashi’s descriptions of 2D plane projections of muqarnas involve geometrical vocabulary elements such as square, rhombus, half-rhombus, almond, small biped, jug, large biped and barley kernel. 5,7,21 Those typological definitions are helpful in explaining the production process in detail. On the other hand, the aspects of design and compositions were neglected in Al-Kashi’s concrete descriptions.…”

Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Dold-Samplonius and Harmsen’s 7 study can be considered as a 3D interpretation of the second period. They examined how different combinations of cell elements might constitute a row from the pre-defined elements such as square, intermediate half-rhombus, intermediate biped and rhombus.…”

Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Similarly, departing from 2D drawings, the three-dimensional (3D) muqarnas generation process muqarnas were generally explained as orderly horizontal layers of small units, one on top of another. 5 –7 Mostly, muqarnas generation processes involve vertical and horizontal geometrical transformations. Complex forms comprised different hierarchies, where each hierarchy is associated with its own logic and details.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Reconnoitring computational potentials of the vault-like forms: Thinking aloud on muqarnas tectonics

Alaçam

Güzelci

Gürer

et al. 2017

International Journal of Architectural Computing

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This study sheds light on a holistic understanding of muqarnas with its historical, philosophical and conceptual backgrounds on one hand and formal, structural and algorithmic principles on the other hand. The vault-like Islamic architectural element, muqarnas, is generally considered to be a non-structural decorative element. Various compositional approaches have been proposed to reveal the inner logic of these complex geometric elements. Each of these approaches uses different techniques such as measuring, unit-based decoding or three-dimensional interpretation of two-dimensional patterns. However, the reflections of the inner logic onto different contexts, such as the usage of different initial geometries, materials or performative concerns, were neglected. In this study, we offer a new schema to approach the performative aspects of muqarnas tectonics. This schema contains new sets of elements, properties and relations deriving partly from previous approaches and partly from the technique of folding. Thus, this study first reviews the previous approaches to analyse the geometric and constructional principles of muqarnas. Second, it explains the proposed scheme through a series of algorithmic form-finding experiments. In these experiments, we question whether 'fold', as one of the performative techniques of making three-dimensional forms, contributes to the analysis of muqarnas in both a conceptual and computational sense. We argue that encoding vault-like systems via geometric and algorithmic relations based on the logic of the 'fold' provides informative and intuitive feedback for form-finding, specifically in the earlier phases of design. While focusing on the performative potential of a specific fold operation, we introduced the concept of bifurcation to describe the generative characteristics of folding technique and the way of subdividing the form with respect to redistribution of the forces. Thus, in this decoding process, the bifurcated fold explains not only to demystify the formal logic of muqarnas but also to generate new forms without losing contextual conditions.

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Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Related Studies On Muqarnasmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Reconnoitring computational potentials of the vault-like forms: Thinking aloud on muqarnas tectonics

Alaçam

Güzelci

Gürer

et al. 2017

International Journal of Architectural Computing

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The geometry of muqarnas designs has been subject to architectural documentation and art-historical interpretation. The geometrical layout is normally based on interlocking polygons on the level of the ground plan, while the elevation follows a relatively schematic sequence of cells and corbels that can be modelled in an algorithm (Notkin 1995;Dold-Samplonius and Harmsen 2005). In the case of Khoja Zaynuddin, stucco muqarnas are an important element of architectural decoration on the interior, where two large half-domes, the squinches, and a circular cornice below the central cupola of the prayer hall are adorned in this manner.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%