Author Archives: Graham Shawcross

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About Graham Shawcross

Architect PhD Edinburgh University Interested in order, rhythm and pattern in Architectural Design

Quasicrystals and Aperiodic Tiling

Posted on April 26, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

In 2011 Dan Shechtman was alone awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of quasicrystals. Shechtman found in 1982 that atoms in a crystal could exhibit 5 fold symmetry packed in a pattern that did not repeat itself; analogous … Continue reading →

Posted in Aperiodic Tiling, Geometry | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Wyld’s Great Globe

Posted on March 29, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

Wyld’s Great Globe: Following Richard Coyne’s post on Panoptic Man http://richardcoyne.com/2012/02/25/panoptic-man/ I thought it might be useful to post the following remarks about Panorama buildings. For my wife’s 60th birthday, in 2007, we took our two sons and their partners … Continue reading →

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A Dream World

Posted on February 3, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

A Dream World: A Celestial Geometer imagines a world made up entirely of the following diagram He asks a handy systems analyst newly arrived in heaven, after a life of endless toil working on CAAD, to design a computer database … Continue reading →

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Aesthetics

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

Aesthetics: Successor to Plain and Provisional investigating what sort of aesthetics might be appropriate and sustainable. implicit order Repetition, grouping, alternation etc of elements effects perceived order. pattern                         … Continue reading →

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Plain and Provisional

Posted on January 23, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

Plain and Provisional: A largely visual argument occasioned by 2 well known Manchester housing schemes. 1 Lovell East Manchester Exemplar Housing       In Venturi and Brown terms, this scheme is definitely a Duck. Plans manipulated to provide interesting … Continue reading →

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Buffon’s American Degeneracy

Posted on January 20, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

Buffon’s American Degeneracy: George Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (1707-1788) disliked what he thought was the arbitrary nature of Linnaean classification. Buffon thought the natural world ought to be understood in all its complexity and consequently produced his monumental (36 … Continue reading →

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Mimicry and Bad Taste

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Graham Shawcross

Mimicry and Bad Taste: Originally this was a reply to Richard Coyne’s blog on Inconspicuous Architecture http://richardcoyne.com/2011/12/31/inconspicuous-architecture/ I was frustrated at not being able to insert images into my response so decided to set up this blog. I hope this … Continue reading →

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