Posts Tagged ‘Islamic Architecture’
Taprats Software
Taprats is a great little java applet that explores Islamic tiling patterns. It can export to EPS format so it is easy to bring vector data into Rhino, Illustrator, or other programs. The firm Ruy|Klein has used the software on their “Ornamentation / Computation” research project. Download the application here.
Patterns in Islamic Art Website
Here’s a great website that documents over 4000 examples of patterns in Islamic art and architecture. Photos can be browsed by country of origin, material, etc. There is also a good history and overview of the use of patterns in Islamic art and architecture.
Girih Tiles
From Wikipedia:
Girih tiles are a set of five tiles that were used in the creation of tiling patterns for decoration of buildings in Islamic architecture. They are known to have been used since about the year 1200 and their arrangements found significant improvement starting with the Darb-i Imam shrine in Isfahan in Iran built in 1453.
The five shapes of the tiles are:
* a regular decagon with ten interior angles of 144°;
* an elongated (irregular convex) hexagon with interior angles of 72°, 144°, 144°, 72°, 144°, 144°;
* a bow tie (non-convex hexagon) with interior angles of 72°, 72°, 216°, 72°, 72°, 216°;
* a rhombus with interior angles of 72°, 108°, 72°, 108°; and
* a regular pentagon with five interior angles of 108°.All sides of these figures have the same length; and all their angles are multiples of 36° (π/5). All of them, except the pentagon, have bilateral (reflection) symmetry through two perpendicular lines. Some have additional symmetries. Specifically, the decagon has tenfold rotational symmetry (rotation by 36°); and the pentagon has fivefold rotational symmetry (rotation by 72°).
Google images of the Darb-i Imam shrine.
