Math Monday: Live-In Polyhedra

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Math Monday: Live-In Polyhedra

By Glen Whitney for the Museum of Mathematics

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Continuing last Math Monday’s theme of building polyhedra, let’s turn to the opposite end of the spectrum from paper models: polyhedra so large and substantial that people can live in them. Here are a couple of striking examples of habitable polyhedral architecture. The first is the Reflection of Mineral house in Nakano-ku, Tokyo:

polyhedra

The unusual form of this house stems from a desire to maximize the usable living space in a building on a small irregular lot on the corner of two streets. That goal was subject to Japanese construction codes which limit the height and roof angles of buildings to ensure sunlight can reach both the neighboring streets, and the property immediately to the north. In the interior image (more of which can be found here) and floor plans below, you can see the beautiful and creative solutions the architects reached in order to conform to the irregular polyhedral space left by the planar constraints imposed by the codes.

polyhedra

The second example is the Habitable Polyhedron by Colombian architect Manuel Villa:

polyhedra

This backyard guesthouse is actually a segment of a truncated cuboctahedron, which can be more easily seen in some of the interior and exterior views gathered here. Coming full circle from last week, you can actually build a paper model of the Habitable Polyhedron using the unfolded version, or net, supplied by the architect:

A nice project might be to create a similar net for the Reflection of Mineral house in Japan, using publicly available information on that building such as the images and floor plans included and linked above.

2 thoughts on “Math Monday: Live-In Polyhedra

  1. Geometric Design – Trends for 2012 Go Poly | Re-Do it Design says:

    […] Math Monday: Live-In Polyhedra (makezine.com) […]

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Gareth Branwyn is a freelance writer and the former Editorial Director of Maker Media. He is the author or editor of over a dozen books on technology, DIY, and geek culture. He is currently a contributor to Boing Boing, Wink Books, and Wink Fun. His free weekly-ish maker tips newsletter can be found at garstipsandtools.com.

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