Call for papers
Unfolding the surface
Space architecture
- Name: Prof. Kartik Vora and Mr. Amber Mehta
- Country: India
- E-mail: kartik.vora@gmail.com
- University: Gujarat University
Abstract: Skin is where the finite body ends and the infinite begins.
I could be bounded in a nutshell and count myself a king of infinite space...
Shakespeare, Hamlet II, 2
Space has always fascinated and inspired thinkers and artists alike; they aspire for a new geometric order as a coneptualizing tool. Interestingly, almost all objects developed in the history of mankind are convex, i.e., they are bounded by a surface that negotiates the lim-its of their finite volumes against the expansive infinite space -- very much like the skin where our finite body ends and the infinite begins. This insight lead the second author, in 1982, to develop thirty four non-convex polyhedra with identical vertex conditions. Unlike their convex counterparts, which are made by folding a surface so that the sum of all an-gles meeting at a vertice are always less than 360 degrees, the non-convex polyhedra are made by unfolding a plane surface into two independent, interwoven spaces of infinite magnitude.
Recent advances in electromagnetics, nanotechnology, and molecular engineering tech-nologies have brought the applications of non-convex polyhedra in the space architecture within our reach. In this paper we will delineate some of the properties of the non-convex polyhedra and outline their potential applications. The convex polyhedra gave credence tothe notions of micro - macro cosmos and their attending ethos and cultural mores. We end the paper with a polemic: “with the non-convex polyhedra we are set to inaugurate a new kind of metaphysics wherein both the inner and outer are really infinite and hence non-hierarchical. In that context, what will be the ethos of this approach? And further, what will be the aesthetics and spatial expressions this paradigm shift in space design will inspire?”
