Attila Csörgő

Last weekend, I saw the great exhibition "Archimedean Point" by the Hungarian artist Attila Csörgö in the Kunsthalle Hamburg: "Csörgõ’s work explores the margin between art and science. The artist conducts thorough experiments with precise machines of his own design and optical apparatuses that reinforce his likewise epistemological and playful, humorous approach. His interests lie in optical illusions, metamorphoses of space into surface as well as hypnotic plays of light that touch upon mechanical movements and other inventions, where he combines imagination and a curiosity for various physical and mathematical phenomena." For a describtion of the work by the artist himself, view the interview (Part 1 and Part 2).


Dodecaherdon=Icosaherdon (1999) is a kinetic construction, based on geometric correspondances between platonic solids. The dodecaherdon is transformed into the icosaherdon and reverse.




Möbius Space (2006-2010) an endless panorama photograph on a möbius strip, taken by a special camera.


Spherical Vortex (1999) is the path of a flashlight bulb made by connecting three seperate whirling movements of different velocity.

RhinoVAULT - Shell Design for Rhino

RhinoVAULT is a plug-in for Rhino, being developed at the BLOCK Research Group by Matthias Rippmann, myself and Philippe Block, that allows for the intuitive design of compression-only shapes, offering a maximum control of the geometry. This software is written particularly for shaping unreinforced masonry vaults, but can also be used for designing efficient freeform shells. Based on the Thrust Network Approach (TNA), which uses a force network as discretization of the shape, it is possible to internally redistribute forces within the network using force diagrams.




A first application of the tool is a prototype of a freeform Catalan thin-tile vault erected at the ETH Campus, Zurich, Switzerland. It was planned and build by Lara Davis, and designed by Matthias Rippmann.

Pictures (c) by BLOCK Research Group

Möbius Loop-Pasta

Thanks to Steve Kass, Möbius strips are not only feeding the mind. (via Nerdcore)

Lecture at ESA

Philipp Eversmann and Paul Ehret kindly invited me to give a lecture at the Ecole Spéciale d'Architecture, Paris, on April 30, as part of the seminar In Silico Design. Recent research from the BLOCK Research Group and the Chair of Structural Design, both ETH Zurich, will be presented.

"What do you want, brick?"

To express is to drive.

And when you want to give something presence,

you have to consult nature.

And there is where Design comes in.

And if you think of Brick, for instance,

and you say to Brick,

"What do you want Brick?"

And Brick says to you

"I like an Arch."

And if you say to Brick

"Look, arches are expensive,

and I can use a concrete lentil over you.

What do you think of that?"

"Brick?"

Brick says:

"... I like an Arch"

Louis Kahn

from John Lobell: Between Silence and Light, p. 59.

Geometry and Proportion in Structural Design

A great book about construction history:

"This collection of essays covers the wide range of topics about structural design, structural design approaches and structural pioneers in honor of the Spanish architect Ricardo Aroca. [...] He radically changed the structural education of architectural students. Aroca pushed it away from a primary analytical analysis towards the discovery of the flow of forces [...] This book includes most important and interesting thoughts on the relation between architectural and structural forms and the fact that both disciplines – architecture and engineering – have differing approaches to the function of a structure." Cited from the book review by
Annette Bögle. The only handicap for me is, that some of the essays written in spanish are not translated into english.


In his essay, Santiago Huerta, one of the book's editors, discusses the fascinating theorem of transformation of structures by William Rankine, first described in the Manual of Applied Mechanics (1858). Huerta's full article can be downloaded here.

Bugs for Breakfast

Very promising new blog by David Rutten, the creator of Grasshopper. With a nice name ...