From: J. Michael Rowland (jmr_at_marathoncomputer.com)
Date: 12/13/02
Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 08:53:16 -0600 Subject: Re: Simplicity domes, and a question about PVC... From: "J. Michael Rowland" <jmr_at_marathoncomputer.com> Message-ID: <BA1F507C.B519%jmr@marathoncomputer.com>
> Simplicity Domes Philosophy: Domes made of commonly available,
> inexpensive materials requiring a minimum of special tools,
> machining or fine technical skills, but are still reletively
> easy to erect.
See if you can get Dick Fischbeck to talk about his "randomes"
idea. It's basically a stochastic approach to geodesics that
does away with the need for precise angle measurements that
so many see as barriers in dome designing.
It seems to me that the higher in frequency you go, the less
difference there is in strut lengths (though you have more
different lengths of struts, or edge vertices [if you prefer
not to think in terms of hub and strut], the less variation
there is between the various different struts; nature, it
seems, tries to use a stochastic approach wherever it can).
So, if you randomize strut/edge length, increase frequency and
add depth of section, you get domes that almost form themselves.
Which is pretty much what happens in lightweight or foamed
concrete mixes.
(I'm using "stochastic" in the statistical sense of involving
a random variable -- rather than in the conjectural sense.)
jmr
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rowley_at_looknfeel.com www.looknfeel.com