Architecture Case Study in Transformity Factorization

Authors

  • Dennis Glenn Collins Univ of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Abstract

This paper studies the Giannantoni factorization of H.T. Odum’s transformity into dissipative and generative components. A dissipative component of architecture was developed in the author’s paper “ ‘Tropical’ Emergy and (Dis-) Order” at the 4th Biennial Emergy Research Conference, and is related to the number of surfaces used up in architectural construction, for example making walls out of bricks. A generative component was developed in the author’s paper “An Algorithm to Measure Symmetry and Positional Emergy of n Points,” presented at the 2007 annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society, New Orleans, LA and included the the ISSS 2007 Bulletin; the generative component is related to the number of equal distances created between different parts of a structure. There is some evidence of ordinality; for example higher-dimensional structures can have orders of magnitude more symmetry. Emergy maximization is analyzed as a constrained calculus problem which for maximization requires middle values of both dissipation and generation. For example a placement of bricks around a yard in a highly symmetric fashion may have high symmetry but if they are not connected , will not lead to a desirable architectural structure. Similarly connectling the bricks into haphazard walls may have high dissipation but without some symmetry of construction into regular structures such as rooms, will be considered a waste of materials. Some other questions such as evolution of biological and animal structure are discussed.

Author Biography

Dennis Glenn Collins, Univ of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez

Prof., Dept. of Math Sciences

Published

2008-07-04

How to Cite

Collins, D. G. (2008). Architecture Case Study in Transformity Factorization. Proceedings of the 52nd Annual Meeting of the ISSS - 2008, Madison, Wisconsin, 3(1). Retrieved from https://journals.isss.org/index.php/proceedings52nd/article/view/974

Issue

Section

Systems Modeling and Simulation