From: Charles J Knight (c.knight_at_juno.com)
Date: 03/09/00
Date: Thu, 9 Mar 2000 17:48:17 -0600 Subject: Re: Interiors Message-ID: <20000309.175100.-304841.2.c.knight@juno.com> From: Charles J Knight <c.knight_at_juno.com>
> > I've always been troubled by something when I
> > looked at a dome's interior. ... In a house
>
> Yes! Exactly what I was thinking.
Good...I'm not the only one.
> It seems like an efficiency, too, to design a room without corners
> that
> catch dirt and cobwebs and are hard to clean.
It might even be possible to leave "natural" openings between spaces,
while still retaining privacy. That might simplify climate control,
since
ductwork would not be necessary.
> > What if we literally designed an interior wall
> > system that represented the inner surface of
> > that torus? It could be round, and curved
> > towards or away from the central room.
>
> I've been picturing something similar in my mind, as a spaceframe
> truss
> or support for a raised deck around the outside of a dome -- or for
I was thinking of non-structural shells, but either way would work. We
just need to stop thinking so "conventionally." Stick framed walls are
only one of MANY possibilities.
> Of course, once you start thinking about this, it's hard to stop
> thinking
> about expanding the design by adding more concentric circles... but
> that
> way lies madness :-) ...and you'd have to shop around for a minotaur
> to
> live in the thing....
Granted. In fact, a few sketches I've done have turned into labrynthine
structures... Fun, but hardly practical. But then again, I've also
sketched
such fun things as a 32x32' chessboard with giant robotic manipulators,
and the gaming dome in which to house it. Just a "fun" thing to design
as a kid.
> I was picturing the vertical supports for the round pen as
> traditional
> post and beam, but started thinking why not use the same
> efficiencies
> offered by the octet truss and geodesic outside-in structure to make
> an
> inside-out support for decking above?
Post and beam structures are surprisingly efficient...though they exist
in a different world than geodesics and monolithics. They use whole
trees in a very beautiful and surprisingly simple way.
> > Next, if they [wall panels] were installed
> > on a track, they could also be movable like
> > shoji screens, while still suiting the
> > interior of the dome. I think the
> > intersecting curves would be a lovely
> > complement to the interior of the dome itself.
>
> The tracks could be spiral, so you could configure different sizes
> of
> "rooms."
Possible, but that would require that the floorplan be centered on a
point. Discrete tracks solve that problem...if the panels simply "hang"
on the (probably) tubular track, it would allow for easy reconfiguration
and even removal, if desired.
> Some folks on the DomeHome List have suggested fabric hangings, both
Fabric can also be formed into anticlastic surfaces requiring only an
external frame...simplicity itself. Synclastic surfaces would require
some type of internal force to hold them into shape...inflation, for
example.
Hence, I'm leaning towards anticlastic forms.
(hyperbolic paraboloids...I finally managed to "crack" the patterning
problem I was having!)
> I'd also want tracks for hanging planters, so you could move plants
> in
> and out of sunlight and shade, and use them to break up space
> without
> enclosing it.
Again, in theory, any number of uses is possible. Built in track
lighting,
hanging walls, built in drip watering system for your plants, etc. Why
limit ourselves?
But...one design problem at a time.
> The "football" track is interesting, too: a classical vesica piscis
> (pardon my spelling): two intersecting circles that make a football
> shape: one of the basic forms of sacred geometry. Gives you a lot of
> different combinations from a very simple set of rules.
Oh...interesting. Come to think of it, intersecting curves define a LOT
of
sacred symbols. Take a look at the Petronas Towers' floorplan. The form
is derived from local sacred geometry. If memory serves, it's an 8
pointed
star with circles placed within the inner vertices.
> > Wright used a gradual spiral in the
> > Guggenheim.
> He also built boulders into the floor in front of the fireplace -- but
> you're right, maybe we could start out simpler....
Hey, perhaps the boulders could serve as thermal mass! :-)
-- Chuck Knight
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