ARCHITECTURE: FRACTAL Scale Issues...

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From: DJCOHEN@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (Daniel Cohen)
Subject: Re: Fractal architecture: response
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Date: Sat, 13 Mar 93 02:06:01 EST
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Re: fractal architecture - I have messed with fractal math as a design process
ordering system, and my Advice is this : fractals deal with concepts like self-
reference and repetition between scales. This kind of concept works best when
one can explore among all of these scales. Because real (built) architecture
has a lowermost scale limit, (that of human perception) it is not conducive to
research in the area of this kind of "trancedentalist" concept. At best,
fractals can serve as models for new aesthetic concepts that involve self-
similarity and iterative processes instead of the repetitive symmetry implied
by Newtonian physics, but the use of them must also acknowledge the limited
range of the human sensorium. I believe that new intellectual or scientific
concepts can act as a stimulus to architecture, but not through literal or
direct translation. There is a kind of academic or cognitive "trickle-down"
that occurs - a sort of percolation - and we cannot short-circuit this process,
no matter how much our swollen forebrains would like to do so. My name is
Erik Hodgetts, I'm a 1st yr. Grad student here, and you can reach me for now
through my housemate's account, as indicated. (DJCOHEN@YALEVM)
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