>In article <CLC2tr.16E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> Charles <chapoton@xxxxxxxxxxx> writes:
>>
>>Is the roof shape of the Kresge Auditorium at MIT
>>derived from a:
>> sphere
>> hyperbolic paraboloid
>> neither???
>>
>Campus mythology has it that it came from a grapefruit half, chopped on the
>sides.
Actually, the shape of the roof is an exact 1/8th section of a sphere---
however, I wouldn't recommend any architect ever using this shape again
for an auditorium: it has very bad acoustics (the MIT Concert Band Director
claims there are only two good seats, one each at the two back corners...),
and it doesn't keep the rain out (the roof has been covered in six different
ways so far).
John Tsuchiya
>>
>>Is the roof shape of the Kresge Auditorium at MIT
>>derived from a:
>> sphere
>> hyperbolic paraboloid
>> neither???
>>
>Campus mythology has it that it came from a grapefruit half, chopped on the
>sides.
Actually, the shape of the roof is an exact 1/8th section of a sphere---
however, I wouldn't recommend any architect ever using this shape again
for an auditorium: it has very bad acoustics (the MIT Concert Band Director
claims there are only two good seats, one each at the two back corners...),
and it doesn't keep the rain out (the roof has been covered in six different
ways so far).
John Tsuchiya