Fractal Aesthetics in Architecture

Authors

Wolfgang E. Lorenz, Institute of Architectural Sciences, Vienna University of Technology, Treitlstrasse 3, 1040 Vienna, AustriaFollow
Jan Andres, Department of Mathematical Analysis, Faculty of Science, Palacky´ University, 17. listopadu 12, 771 46 Olomouc, Czech RepublicFollow
Georg Franck, Institute of Architectural Sciences, Vienna University of Technology, Treitlstrasse 3, 1040 Vienna, AustriaFollow

Author Country (or Countries)

Czech Republic

Abstract

This paper deals with fractal aesthetics and proposes a new fractal analysis method for the perceptual study of architecture. The authors believe in the universality of formulas and aim to complement the architectural description in terms of proportion. Although a well established fractal analysis method to describe the complexity of facades across different scales already exists, box-counting is imprecise because of too many influences coming along with the method itself. The authors consider the self-similarity as an important part of aesthetic quality in architecture. This is due to the fact that it describes a concept of consistency that holds everything together from the whole to the smallest detail which refers to the classical meaning of the word symmetry. Hence, a new fractal analysis method is introduced which so far has been applied to quantitative linguistics. Basically, elements of different order, called construct/constituent pairs, are counted and related in a formula. In architecture the pairing consists of likewise elements belonging to different orders, from the overview, the fundamental elements to the smaller details. As a conjecture, some preferable fractal dimensions (from the aesthetical point of view) are proposed for architectural structures

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

http://dx.doi.org/10.18576/amis/110404

Recommended Citation

E. Lorenz, Wolfgang; Andres, Jan; and Franck, Georg (2017) "Fractal Aesthetics in Architecture," Applied Mathematics & Information Sciences: Vol. 11: Iss. 4, Article 4.
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.18576/amis/110404
Available at: https://digitalcommons.aaru.edu.jo/amis/vol11/iss4/4