The matter of shape: A computational approach to making in architectural heritage (survey)

Shapes can express not only visual but also functional and material aspects of designs. Recent studies in computational making, as well as earlier research on weights and colors in shape grammars, have done much to explore how shapes in computations may inscribe material attributes. This is both relevant and essential in deciphering past design knowledge from architectural heritage. With examples from traditional stone relief carving and tile mosaics of thirteenth century Anatolia, our research, reviewed here, emphasizes a neglected design knowledge: how the tools and techniques applied on the material surface factor into and determine the final shape, and what constitutes it. The discussion extends to ways of capturing and modeling the physical information from built heritage, and how consequent representations of shapes in these models may incorporate material attributes, in order to increase our understanding of past architectural and building traditions.