Nexus Network Journal最新文献

The research deals with an interesting interdisciplinary case study for the knowledge and dissemination of masonry sail vaults in Malta between the 16th and the 17th centuries. In particular, it focuses on the sail vaults of the Magistral Palace, which have a distinctive structure. Based on a digital survey, the necessary data was extrapolated to critically analyse the geometry, through drawing and three-dimensional modelling. The paper, therefore, presents graphical and geometric investigations, which complement the study of the history of the Magistral Palace. Comparisons with the Maltese architectural context between the 16th and 17th centuries show the use of different solutions for the construction of sail vaults, according to different geometries. This implies knowledge of the international debate on the theory of stonecutting at the time.

The use of mathematical structures as a design tool by Luigi Moretti, the first theorist of Architettura Parametrica, is an unexplored theme even though he repeatedly stressed their importance in his writings. Moretti proposed that bringing design thinking closer to mathematical formalisations could profoundly renew the discipline of architecture. However, he also warns that these formalisations may overwhelm architecture’s values to which a numerical dimension cannot be associated. The reconstruction and discussion of the mathematics behind his swimming stadiums featured in the 1960 Architettura Parametrica exhibition permits us to understand how Moretti intended a design process informed by formalised methods. This paper proposes a novel reading, based on unpublished archival sources and presented with both theoretical and practical approaches, of one the first applications that interweaves formal methods, mathematics, digital tools and scientific thought in architecture.

Topology optimization is a structural optimization method that aims to distribute material within a defined design domain. With the advancement of technology, topology optimization has become more popular in fields such as architecture. However, with the variety of tools available, users may find it challenging to decide which tool best suits their needs. Although grasshopper is widespread in architectural design, grasshopper plugins for topology optimization are one of the tools that are under-researched. This research uses four domain variations to explore their efficiency to conduct a comparative study of the grasshopper plugins: Millipede, tOpos, and Ameba. The setup process, resulting geometry, computation time, and volume fractions were used as comparison parameters. Each plugin was superior in one of these parameters. tOpos was, however, the fastest plugin and, along with Ameba, achieved target volume fractions.

In the mid-fifteenth century, Venice inherited Cardinal Bessarione’s collection of ancient manuscripts, an exceptional legacy that contributed to the renewal of mathematical studies. This essay outlines the spread of mathematics in Venice in the early Renaissance, when scholars actively discussed Euclid and universal proportions. Based on this cultural context, the author briefly analyzes the role of polyhedra and an example of the application of proportions to architecture: the church of San Francesco della Vigna in Venice. This church is an interesting and rare case of ‘declared’ application of proportions to architecture, since we have specific indications in Francesco Zorzi’s memorandum written in 1535.

Florence counts as one of the cradles of European Renaissance art and architecture where linear perspective first emerged. These developments led to the pivotal role perception played in Florence’s architectural and urban design conceptions, as seen in the works of Brunelleschi (1377–1446), Michelozzo (1396–1472), and Alberti (1404–1472), among others. Alberti's De re aedificatoria presented an analogy of the city as a house and vice versa, negating hard distinctions between architectural and urban design, while Alberti’s oeuvre, particularly De pictura, underscores the primacy of the eye. This suggests the exploration of mathematical relationships between architectural façades and urban space configurations within the Florentine context. Through this approach, the paper explores the cases of Palazzo Pitti, Strozzi, and Rucellai, and advances ongoing debates regarding Palazzo Rucellai’s envisioned finished appearance by using a 3D Digital Twin (DT) of the palace and its immediate urban context to test alternative façade hypotheses. Ultimately, the results unveil the multidimensional character of Renaissance architectural façade design and their urban role as signifiers of the cultural, intellectual, economic, and political valour of their inhabitants.

Guarino Guarini’s ribbed vaults have been connected with Islamic sources. However, this connection relies almost exclusively on plans and visual observations from the church floor. By contrast, the vertical layout, although clearly shown in Guarini’s Dissegni di architettura civile ed ecclesiastica, and the intrados surface of the ribs have not been taken into account, except by Marco Boetti (Guarino Guarini, Umberto Allemandi, Torino, 2006). In this contribution, I will deal with some possible sources of Guarini’s designs for the ribbed vaults of Sainte-Anne-la-Royale in Paris, Padri Somaschi in Messina, San Lorenzo in Turin and San Gaetano in Nice. I will take into account not only the plan layout of the ribs, but also their shape in space, and the nature of the intrados surface, analysing such possible sources as the stereotomic treatise of François Derand and several Spanish stonecutting manuscripts connected with El Escorial.

The lower chamber of tower J17 from the Aurelian Walls in Rome is covered by a singular brick vault by slices that is almost completely preserved. This kind of vault is unusual in a Roman context and specifically in Aurelian Walls. Brick vaults by slices were extensively studied by the French engineer Auguste Choisy, who mainly scrutinized their ease of construction that doesn’t require formwork and can adapt to different plans to achieve lowered vaults. The best-known examples are in Byzantium and generally in the Eastern Roman Empire, while we don’t know many cases dating from late Roman antiquity on the Italian peninsula. Based on a rigorous photogrammetric survey and thorough data management, a detailed analysis of this vault allows us to establish a hypothesis about its construction process and to deepen the knowledge of this type of structure.

This letter from the editor introduces Vol. 26(2) of the Nexus Network Journal: Architecture and Mathematics. The research in this issue addresses two broad themes: the interpretation of historic buildings, ornamentation and materials, and the construction of complex, curvilinear architectural forms. The methods used in this issue range from archaeological surveys and ballistics studies to computational approaches, such as parametric modelling and machine learning. The common thread connecting the work is how geometric properties, some hidden, others more overt, can be used to create new architectural knowledge and applications. Chronologically, the research topics in this issue span from the more than 2000-year-old tombs of the Nabataean Necropolis to contemporary computer-controlled construction processes.

The subject of domes in the Roman world is complex and can be studied from different perspectives. In this paper we focus on the relationship between Heron of Alexandria's manuals and the vaulting systems of the Hadrianic age. Our aim is to compare a selection of formulae from the critical edition by Johan Ludvig Heiberg with a series of buildings recently documented using photogrammetric and laser scanner technologies. The collection of writings Heronis Alexandrini opera quae supersunt omnia (mainly books IV and V) presents an interesting set of formulae for calculating vaults and domes: volumes and areas of niches, spherical segments, lunettes, as well as empirical strategies for calculating complex shapes. This approach, which integrates practical knowledge with Vitruvian graphic schemes, allows us to clarify the work of the ancient architect and consequently to investigate the architectural problem within the more general framework of archaeology with new conceptual tools.

The archaeological World Heritage Site of Hegra (Mada´in Salih, Al-Hijr), in Saudi Arabia, is often considered the southern capital of the Nabataean Kingdom. Positioned just northeast of the AlUla Valley (where ancient Dadan is located), the Nabataeans recreated several aspects of their northern capital, Petra. They carved more than 130 tombs into the sandstone outcrops of which nearly a hundred had a monumental character with ornate façades of exceptional beauty and deep sense of enduring. In February 2023, our international, multidisciplinary research team conducted a field campaign in Hegra. Our objective was to measure the orientation of Nabataean tombs and sanctuaries in the area, which could offer new clues to aspects of Nabataean culture and religion that we had studied in earlier works at Petra, and elsewhere in Nabataea. This paper includes the analysis and interpretation of the data on the orientation of 113 tombs, including all monumental ones, the largest coherent set of Nabataean tombs ever analyzed. The results show that the tombs were not randomly orientated but followed a series of patterns, most probably emphasizing the skyscape, within the framework of the Nabataean lunisolar calendar religious festivals, and, on occasions, also the local landscape.