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The structural morphology working group of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures, founded in 1991, has helped to launch several international seminars, newsletters and specific sessions of international conferences devoted to structural morphology. This book contains papers that have been selected either for their fundamental contribution to structural morphology or for their actual pertinence in the field. Polyhedral geometry, double-curved surfaces, biological structures, foldable systems, form-finding techniques, and free form design are some of the topics included in the contents of this book. The work presented in this book is the result of more than 15 years of study by researchers, engineers, mathematicians, and architects, who thought that conceptual design would benefit from the association of separate fields (geometry, biology, and mechanics) in a holistic process. Every aspect of structural morphology is illustrated by one or more chapters of the book. As far as we know, there are few books perhaps none that gather all aspects of structural morphology, even if, for instance, there are many books on the geometry of polyhedra. Furthermore, readers will have access to a large list of selected references, which will open the scope of their bibliography.
List of contents
The First 13 Years of Structural Morphology Group - A Personal View; An Approach to Structural Morphology; The Structural Morphology of Curved Diaphragms - Or the Structural Behavior of Floral Polyhedra; Polyhedroids; Novational Transformations; Some Structural-Morphological Aspects of Deployable Structures for Space Enclosures; Phantasy in Space: On Human Feeling Between the Shapes of the World and How to Look on Natural Structures; An Expandable Dodecahedron; Examples of Geometrical Reverse Engineering: Designing from Models and/or Under Geometrical Constraints; Crystalline Architecture; Kinetic Grids with Swivel Diaphragm; Form Optimizing Processes in Biological Structures; The Morphology of Sea Shells; Expandable BlobA" Structures.
