VORONOI DIAGRAMS

I have found a new inspiration source, voronoi diagrams.  A voronoi diagram is a scientific / mathematical graphic which divides a plane into regions based on sets of points on that plane.  The first voronoi diagram that I came across, accidentally, is this image below. What I was struck by was the transparency of the graphic.  Although it looks like it might be a three dimensional form, it actually is not.  The red line is a further division of the plane, rather than a dimensionalization of a plane into a form.

And as an aside, scientific graphics, as visual summaries of data sets, provide a rich resource to study.  By their simple plotting of lines, they have an immediate transparency to them.  An entire study is waiting to be done on the typological classification of scientific diagrams, how they are inherently transparent, the parallels of scientific diagrams to architectural diagrams, etc.;  there will not be room in my upcoming book for this topic.

As reported at the American Mathematical Society website:

“Voronoi diagrams have been used by anthropologists to describe regions of influence of different cultures; by crystallographers to explain the structure of certain crystals and metals; by ecologists to study competition between plants; and by economists to model markets in the U.S. economy.”

And it seems that various three dimensional software employs a type of voronoi algorithm:  Grasshopper seems to output images that are similar.  Yet, there is nothing like picking up a pencil and drawing a voronoi inspired form on your paper.

The image that I found was sufficiently interesting that I proceeded to dimensionalize the plane in my drawing above.  I started with the premise that the red line was the back side of the form.  I used the approximate geometry of the diagram.  And I produced a rationalized form, even though it has the appearance of being drawn in 3.5 dimensions.

Not stopping there, I quickly knowledged the two images below in my sketchbook.  These are two more additions to the House Dress series.  I used what I learned from the top drawing to generate a, more or less, two Ready To Build solutions.