In a previous post, I discussed the fractal boundaries of two interacting systems. Whenever a natural system, such as a tree, a river, an animal path, or a cloud interacts with another, the border between the two will show self-similarity. This often takes place in both systems, and one may be the cause of the other. This is how Nature interacts with herself. With living systems, I believe it is because growth is algorithmically based. Growth is very much a self-replicating pattern, and that growth eventually must end at a border. Yet for non organic systems, such as atmospheric phenomena,…
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Over the millennia, ornamentation has been used in architecture and design for countless reasons. For some, the design isn’t complete until it has a few smaller pieces or a border attached to a main structure as a reinforcement of the design’s theme. This is very apparent in Louis Sullivan’s work, where the terra cotta decorations on his skyscrapers reinforced the organic theme of the building. Louis Sullivan’s ornamentation on the Van Allen building In classical design, one purpose of ornamentation is to reveal the elements of a building that were originally wooden, such as dentils. Dentilation used on a classical…
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When we look at Nature, we take a snapshot of her with our mind. In a single moment, we see a glorious balancing act, both expansion and contraction, building and destruction. We experience her in the eternal present; and because this snapshot is frozen in time, we can easily forget the process that builds up to that moment and likewise recedes from it. Without time, all we see is equilibrium. All the forces disappear. Because of this we extrapolate the present into the future and the past and we think that everything emanates from our present. Far from an equilibrium,…