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    Spherical Models
    Spherical Models
    Spherical Models
    Ebook339 pages1 hour

    Spherical Models

    By Magnus J. Wenninger

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    About this ebook

    Well known through the work of Buckminster Fuller, models of spherical polyhedral excite the imaginations not only of mathematicians, architects and engineers but also of artists and designers. This book, concerned with polyhedrons, sphere tilings, and dome structures, offers a well-illustrated, practical approach to creating a host of beautiful and interesting models, including starfaced spherical forms that can serve as basic structures for geodesic domes.
    Employing only the most elementary mathematical principles, the text initially provides complete instructions for making spherical models from five regular solids, using only circular bands of paper, a ruler and a compass. Also discussed is tessellation, or tiling, on a sphere and how to make spherical models of all the semiregular solids. The volume concludes with a discussion of the relationship of polyhedral to geodesic domes and directions for building models of the domes.
    Abundantly illustrated with photographs, drawings, and computer graphics of attractive geometrical models, this volume will appeal to a wide range of readers—from students and teachers of mathematics, art, design, architecture and engineering, to recreational mathematics enthusiasts and builders of geodesic domes.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateMay 5, 2014
    ISBN9780486143651
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      Book preview

      Spherical Models - Magnus J. Wenninger

      Photo A. Icosidodecahedron with pentagrams.

      Photo B. An 8-frequency geodesic dome.

      Spherical Models

      Magnus J. Wenninger

      DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

      Mineola, New York

      Copyright

      Copyright © 1979 by Cambridge University Press

      New Appendix copyright © 1999 by Magnus J. Wenninger

      All rights reserved.

      Bibliographical Note

      This Dover edition, first published in 1999, is an unabridged and corrected republication of the work originally published by Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, in 1979. The original color frontispiece has been reproduced here on the inside front cover. A new Appendix has been added and the References have been updated in the present edition.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Wenninger, Magnus J.

      Spherical models / Magnus J. Wenninger, p. cm.

      Originally published: Cambridge [Eng.]; New York : Cambridge University

      Press, 1979.

      Includes bibliographical references.

      eISBN 13: 978-0-486-14365-1

      1. Sphere—Models. 2. Geodesic domes—Models. I. Title.

      QA491. W43 1999

      516'. 15—dc21                                                         99-045829

      Manufactured in the United States by Courier Corporation

      40921X03

      www.doverpublications.com

      to the memory of my father and my mother

      and

      to Professor H. S. M. Coxeter without whose inspiration this book could never have been written

      Certe in Dei Creatoris mente consistit Deo coaetemo figurarum harum veritas.

      Beyond doubt the true form of all these shapes exists eternally in the mind of God the Creator.

      Johann Kepler, 1611

      Contents

      Foreword by Arthur L. Loeb

      Preface

      Introduction: Basic properties of

      the sphere

      I.The regular spherical models

      The spherical hexahedron or cube

      General instructions for

      making models

      The spherical octahedron

      The spherical tetrahedron

      The spherical icosahedron

      and dodecahedron

      The polyhedral kaleidoscope

      Summary

      II.The semiregular spherical models

      The spherical cuboctahedron

      The spherical icosidodecahedron

      Spherical triangles as characteristic

      triangles

      The five truncated regular

      spherical models

      The rhombic spherical models

      The rhombitruncated spherical models

      The snub forms as spherical models

      The spherical duals

      Summary

      III.Variations

      Regular and semiregular variations

      Star-faced spherical models

      IV.Geodesic domes

      The simplest geodesic domes

      Geodesic domes derived from

      the icosahedron

      General instructions for making

      geodesic models

      An alternative method of approaching

      geodesic segmentation

      Introduction to geodesic symbolism

      and classification

      Geodesic models derived from the

      dodecahedron

      An alternative for geodesic

      segmentation of the dodecahedron

      A second alternative for geodesic

      segmentation of the icosahedron

      An alternative for geodesic

      segmentation of the snub

      dodecahedron

      A third alternative for geodesic

      segmentation of the icosahedron

      Final comments

      V.Miscellaneous models

      Honeycomb models, edge models,

      and nolids

      An introduction to the notion of

      polyhedral density

      Edge models of stellated forms

      Some final comments about

      geodesic domes

      Epilogue

      Appendix

      References

      List of models

      Foreword

      In order to provide the reader with an indication of his standards of judgment, a book reviewer must carefully weigh and clearly state the pros and cons of any book. Unqualified praise is suspect, for even the most excellent of books will be graced by some features that will displease some reviewer.

      It is very gratifying to find that a minor criticism in my review of Magnus Wenninger’s superb Polyhedron models may in some small measure have provided an impetus for his present Spherical models. I am delighted to find my role changed from reviewer of the earlier volume to contributor of a foreword to the latter.

      The projection of polyhedrons onto a spherical surface has distinct conceptual advantages. Although not flat, the surfaces of such polyhedrons are twodimensional, allowing two degrees of freedom of travel on them. The spherical surface provides these polyhedrons with a standard frame of reference, having two degrees of freedom, on which to represent, transform, and interrelate these forms without change in the radial coordinates of their vertices, edges, and faces. Although the rational relationships between the volumes of some of these solids are obscured by spherical projection, edge lengths and distances obtain simple relations, expressible as arc lengths of great and small circles on the surface of the sphere. Furthermore, spherical projection relates polyhedrons to dome structures, since edges of these polyhedrons constitute or relate to geodesics, that is, to paths of minimal length between two points on the surface of a sphere.

      The tessellation, or tiling, of a surface has fascinated artists and designers for many centuries. The tiling of a plane is easily related to that of a cylinder, because the plane may be rolled up into a cylinder. Certain constraints need to be specified along the seam, but basically the problem of tiling the cylinder is not very different from that of tiling the plane. In turn, a cylinder may be bent so that its ends join; the result is a toroid. Aside from another seam constraint, and some distortion resulting from the bending, the problem of tiling a toroid does not essentially differ from that of tiling the plane. Sphere tessellations, on the other hand, follow entirely different rules, which are essentially those determining polyhedral configurations. The present book, then, is a book concerned in a unified manner with polyhedrons, sphere tilings, and dome structures.

      The beauty of Magnus Wenninger’s models is beyond doubt. It would have been easy for him to display these live and through photographs, withholding the secrets of their manufacture, or to veil their mathematics in obscure formulas or symbolism, restricting their accessibility to a cultural elite. Instead the author has devised an optimum method of construction, using minimal, and principally planar, trigonometry. Teachers of design science can now provide their students with construction materials and this book and feel confident that successful models will emerge. And once these attractive models become prevalent, they are bound to influence both environmental art and architecture and, thus, have a very positive effect on our visual environment. We owe Magnus Wenninger a debt of gratitude for making his jewels, or three-dimensional mandalas, so accessible!

      Arthur L. Loeb

      April, 1978

      Cambridge, Massachusetts

      Preface

      Since the publication of my book Polyhedron models (Cambridge University Press, 1971), one of my ambitions has been to clarify for the general reader the section entitled Mathematical classification, pp. 4-10, of that book. Even so highly qualified a reader as Arthur L. Loeb of the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies at Harvard University commented in his review of the book: This section suffers from trying at once too much and too little: in its conciseness it is very difficult to follow and not really extensive enough to provide a sufficient background to the relationships between the various polyhedra (Leonardo, vol. 7, p. 73).

      It is my hope that the present book will come to the aid of any interested reader and supply what is needed for a better understanding of polyhedral relationships. On p. 4 of Polyhedron models I said: The ideas are easier to visualize with the aid of models, and the same is true here. Fortunately, the methods used for making the three spherical models illustrated on p. 7 of Polyhedron models can be generalized. Therefore the present book is simply entitled Spherical models and may be considered a companion volume to Polyhedron models, though by no means as comprehensive in scope.

      The spherical models of this book are closely related to geodesic domes. Many people are vaguely aware of the relationship of polyhedral forms to geodesic domes. Polyhedron models generally are found to be very attractive mainly because of their symmetries. This remains equally true for the spherical models given here. It will, therefore, also be the aim of this book to show explicitly the relationship between polyhedrons and geodesic domes and to show how models of such domes can be made in paper.

      Even though all the models illustrated in this book are truly spherical, it may be in place here to say immediately that the mathematics involved remains elementary throughout. The book will be directed mainly

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