Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture - Paperback

Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture - Paperback

$39.95
Skip to product information
Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture - Paperback

Formulations: Architecture, Mathematics, Culture - Paperback

$39.95

by Andrew Witt (Author)

An investigation of mathematics as it was drawn, encoded, imagined, and interpreted by architects on the eve of digitization in the mid-twentieth century.

In Formulations, Andrew Witt examines the visual, methodological, and cultural intersections between architecture and mathematics. The linkages Witt explores involve not the mystic transcendence of numbers invoked throughout architectural history, but rather architecture's encounters with a range of calculational systems--techniques that architects inventively retooled for design. Witt offers a catalog of mid-twentieth-century practices of mathematical drawing and calculation in design that preceded and anticipated digitization as well as an account of the formal compendia that became a cultural currency shared between modern mathematicians and modern architects.
Witt presents a series of extensively illustrated "biographies of method"--episodes that chart the myriad ways in which mathematics, particularly the mathematical notion of modeling and drawing, was spliced into the creative practice of design. These include early drawing machines that mechanized curvature; the incorporation of geometric maquettes--"theorems made flesh"--into the toolbox of design; the virtualization of buildings and landscapes through surveyed triangulation and photogrammetry; formal and functional topology; stereoscopic drawing; the economic implications of cubic matrices; and a strange synthesis of the technological, mineral, and biological: crystallographic design.
Trained in both architecture and mathematics, Witt uses mathematics as a lens through which to understand the relationship between architecture and a much broader set of sciences and visual techniques. Through an intercultural exchange with other disciplines, he argues, architecture adapted not only the shapes and surfaces of mathematics but also its values and epistemic ideals.

Author Biography

Andrew Witt is Associate Professor in Practice of Architecture at Harvard University Graduate School of Design and cofounder of Certain Measures, a design and technology studio based in Berlin and Boston.

Number of Pages: 432
Dimensions: 1.3 x 7.9 x 5.3 IN
Illustrated: Yes
Publication Date: January 11, 2022

Made with care

Great value

Elegant design

Quality materials

Details

This product is crafted with quality materials to ensure durability and performance. Designed with your convenience in mind, it seamlessly fits into your everyday life.

Shipping & Returns

We strive to process and ship all orders in a timely manner, working diligently to ensure that your items are on their way to you as soon as possible.

We are committed to ensuring a positive shopping experience for all our customers. If for any reason you wish to return an item, we invite you to reach out to our team for assistance, and we will evaluate every return request with care and consideration.

Play video

Shop The Full Collection

!Ah y Le Lo Lay, Le Lo Ley! Musica Tipica de Puerto Rico - Paperback

!Búscalo! (Look It Up!): A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage - Hardcover

!Búscalo! (Look It Up!): A Quick Reference Guide to Spanish Grammar and Usage - Paperback

!LETTER TO THE UNITED NATIONS! !REPARATIONS NOW! The Many Reasons Why: St. Mark's-in-the-Bowery Church, The Dutch Royal Family, The Kingdom of the Net - Paperback