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Facade Shaping Inspired by Scherk's

Minimal Surfaces
Article in Procedia Engineering December 2015
DOI: 10.1016/j.proeng.2015.07.059

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Jan Pelczynski
Warsaw University of Technology
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Procedia Engineering 111 (2015) 632 636

XXIV R-S-P seminar, Theoretical Foundation of Civil Engineering (24RSP) (TFoCE 2015)

Facade shaping inspired by Scherks minimal surfaces

-DQ3HF]\VNLa3DZH:DZUXFKa, *
a

Warsaw University of Technology, Faculty of Civil Engineering, Al. Armii Ludowej 16, 00-637 Warsaw, Poland

Abstract
Architects around the world search for new forms of buildings. Many interesting shapes are derived from geometry and theory of
surfaces. Among them the minimal surfaces discovered by Heinrich Scherk deserve special attention due to their esthetical
values.
One kind of them turns out to be especially suitable for shaping facades of tall buildings. The present paper makes use of
Weierstrass-Enneper parameterization to construct these surfaces by explicit formulae. Selected surfaces are implemented in the
symbolic computation software. Upon exporting the models to the CAD system one obtains possibility of designing sketches
ready to use in the engineering practice.
2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V.
2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the XXIV R-S-P seminar, Theoretical Foundation of Civil
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Engineering
(24RSP)
under
responsibility of organizing committee of the XXIV R-S-P seminar, Theoretical Foundation of Civil Engineering (24RSP)
Peer-review
Keywords: Faade shaping; Scherks minimal syrface

1. Introduction
The goal of many architects is the design of unique buildings forms. They gain the inspiration, apart from their
imagination, from the world around. Many buildings were inspired by the nature: the Lotus Tower, New Delhi, India
(a lotus flower); Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan (a bamboo stalk); Beijing National Stadium, Beijing, China (a birds
nest); Chicago Spire, Chicago, USA (a seashell).
Visually interesting forms can be also found in the art of creating paper figures, called origami. The United States
Air Force Academy, Colorado Springs, USA; The Basque Health Department, Bilbao, Spain; Nestle Chocolate

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: p.wawruch@il.pw.edu.pl

1877-7058 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license

(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of the XXIV R-S-P seminar, Theoretical Foundation of Civil Engineering (24RSP)

doi:10.1016/j.proeng.2015.07.059

633

Jan Peczyski and Pawe Wawruch / Procedia Engineering 111 (2015) 632 636

Museum, Toluca, Mexico are the examples of buildings resembling a folded piece of paper. Also engineers are
studying the behavior of structures inspired by origami shapes [1].
Different branches of mathematics offer wide fields of inspiration. The theory of surfaces delivers the
inexhaustible number of fascinating shapes ready to use in architecture. As an example one can indicate the use of
ruled surfaces [2] in Philips Pavilion, Brussels, Belgium designed as a composition of asymmetric hyperbolic
paraboloids or in Warszawa Ochota train station, Warszawa, Poland. The great masterpiece which is the Baslica i
Temple Expiatori de la Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain, designed by Antoni Gaudi is also built with the use of
hyperboloids, paraboloids or conoids.
More complicated, from the point of view of the mathematical description, surfaces family are minimal surfaces
[3,4]. Among them these discovered by Heinrich Scherk deserve special attention. The saddle tower [5],
generalization of Sherks second surface, turns out to be especially suitable for shaping facades of tall buildings.
The aim of the present paper is to show the easy way of transferring the minimal surface parameterization to the
form possible to apply in designing process. The present authors make use of Weierstrass-Enneper parameterization
to construct these surfaces by explicit formulae. The present paper shows the possibility of exporting the models to
the CAD system to obtain the opportunity of designing sketches ready to use in the engineering and architectural
practice. Based on the aesthetical and utility values of saddle towers carefully selected examples of created crosssections of the tall building are presented.
2. Minimal surfaces
The minimal surfaces are solutions to the Plateau problem of constructing a surface of minimum area whose
contour in the form of a spatial curve is prescribed. The Plateau problem can be attacked numerically, yet such a
direct approach is not helpful in the faade shaping process. For architectural aims explicit analytical formulae are
the most welcome.
In the sixties of the nineteenth century Alfred Enneper and Karl Weierstrass introduced a fairly general
parameterization of the minimal surfaces given by formulae

x  r , I  f  z  1   g  z   dz ,

y  r , I  i f  z  1   g  z   dz ,

(1)

z  r , I  2 f  z  g  z  dz ,
iI
where z re and ( z ) is the real part of z. The formulae (1) involve two functions of complex arguments
f ( z ) and g ( z ) , where f ( z ) is a holomorphic function and g ( z ) is a meromorphic function such that

f ( z )( g ( z ))

is holomorphic [6]. The choice of the functions determines the shape of the surface. The
parameterization (1) leads to explicit formulae. The advantage of the equations (1), over other available descriptions,
is the simplicity of the data processing.
One of the best known and simultaneously suitable for the aim of the presented paper is the Sherks second
surface. It is defined by (1) with the functions

f  z

4
,
1 z4

g  z  i z.

(2)

This approach leads to the single periodic saddle tower parametrization, which is beneficial while designing tall
buildings facades.

634

Jan Peczyski and Pawe Wawruch / Procedia Engineering 111 (2015) 632 636

Fig. 1. The minimal surfaces obtained for (4). (a) k

3; (b) k

4; (c) k

5.

The next step is to find the surface of a three-fold saddle tower. After applying h ( z )
the parameterization introduced by Karcher [5] given by formulae

f ( z ) g ( z ) to (1) one gets

x  r , I 
 g  z  h  z  dz ,
g z

y  r , I  i
 g  z  h  z  dz ,
g z

(3)

z  r , I  2h  z  dz.
Karcher proposed the generalization of the saddle tower to k folds ( k ! 2 ) with the use of functions

g  z

z k 1 ,

h z

1
1
.
k
k
z z
z

(4)

By the control of the parameters k and M one can obtain various shapes from Karcher formulae (4) (see Fig. 1.).

Fig. 2. The minimal surfaces obtained for (5). (a) k

3, M

S 3 ; (b) k

3, M

S 4 ; (c) k

3, M

S 5.

635

Jan Peczyski and Pawe Wawruch / Procedia Engineering 111 (2015) 632 636

In order to use the obtained forms in the faade shaping process the present authors concluded that simple
modification of (4) leads to increased height of the connectors in the center part of the surface and hence the utility
will be increased while maintaining the aesthetic value. With the use of the Weierstrass-Enneper parameterization
in the Karcher form

g  z
h z

z k 1 ,
k

z z

k

1
1

 2 cos  kM  z

(5)

the explicit surface formulae are obtained, see Fig. 2.

3. Case studies
The trivial approach for plotting in Mathematica software leads to insufficiently accurate results, since the
obtained surfaces have appeared to be fragmented. To improve the model the linear and rotational symmetry is
included in rendering process. By the appropriate choice of r , I ranges, one can gain a repeatable surface fragment
without significant defects. Using basic geometrical transformations the continuous and smooth surface is built. This
approach requires greater amount of work in model processing, however the quality of results is improved.
The surface model derived from the parameterization is a valuable basis for further tall building design process
(thick lines in Fig. 3.). The transfer of the geometric primitives from Mathematica to CAD software is surprisingly
simple. It is enough to save the Mathematica drawing as a dxf file and the further transformations can be done in
CAD software. Gained model is a central form of the building, but it needs to be developed to get functional faade
(thin lines in Fig. 3.).

Fig. 3.The cross-sections (taken at regular intervals) obtained from the saddle tower for k 3, M S 4 ; (thick line) and completed with pieces of
faade in order to get a closed shape (thin line). The dashed line indicates the reference contour.

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Jan Peczyski and Pawe Wawruch / Procedia Engineering 111 (2015) 632 636

4. Conclusions
The present paper presents the possible way of transferring a minimal surface parameterization from
mathematical description to the CAD model. The procedure was presented with the use of saddle tower, however
when one changes the input functions for the (3) the variety of other surfaces, e.g. helicoid, katenoid and Enneper
surface, can be obtained. It should be noted that not only the approximate shape but the exact projection is achieved.
All of above mentioned surfaces can be used for the purpose of faade shaping.
Simultaneously two parameters, involved in Sherks surface parameterization, are highlighted. The selection of
parameters k and M allows obtaining numerous very interesting forms.
Acknowledgements
7KHSUHVHQWSDSHUKDVEHHQLQVSLUHGE\WKHVHPLQDUGHOLYHUHGE\SURI:RMFLHFK=DERFNLDWWKHDepartment of
Structural Mechanics and Computer Aided Engineering in 2014.
References
[1@:*LOHZVNL-3HF]\VNL3 Stawarz, A Comparative Study of Origami Inspired Folded Plates, Procedia Engineering 91 (2014) 220-225.
[2] S. Flry, H. Pottmann, Ruled surfaces for rationalization and design in architecture, Proc. ACADIA (2010) 103-109.
[3] T. Wallisser, Other geometries in architecture: bubbles, knots and minimal surfaces, Mathknow. Springer Milan (2009) 91-111.
[4@ /6 9HOLPLURYL G. RadivojevL, M.S. 6WDQNRYL ' .RVWL Minimal surfaces for architectural constructions. Facta universitatis-series:
Architecture and Civil Engineering, 6 (2008) 89-96.
[5] H. Karcher, Embedded minimal surfaces derived from Scherks examples, Manuscripta Math. 62 (1988) 83-114.
[6] M. Kilchrist, D. Packard, The Weierstrass-Enneper Representations, Dynamics at the Horsetooth, 4 (2012).