Fractal Architecture

M.P.KOKILA
I year M.arch- General
What is a Fractal?
“Fractals are objects of any kind whose spatial form is nowhere
smooth, hence termed ‘irregular’,A and whose irregularity repeats
itself geometrically across many scales”.
Characteristics
"... the world is chaotic, discontinuous, irregular in its superficial
physical form but ... beneath this first impression lies an order
which is regular, unyielding and of infinite complexity.”
Characteristics – A Fractal is Rugged
Characteristics – A Fractal is Self-Similar
Characteristics – A Fractal is Infinitely Complex
Characteristics – A Fractal is Developed through Iterations
Characteristics – A Fractal Depends on Starting Conditions
haracteristics – A Fractal is Common in Nature
FRACTALS AND ARCHITECTURE

If architecture stands for continuing the development from the

protecting caves over the fallen down tree as a first shelter
to buildings made of timber or stones and up to modern
interpretations of nature like Frank Lloyd Wright’s examples,
then architecture, natural materials, time and the structure
of nature may still be an unity. In this way, nature, as we
have seen in the sections before, offers characteristics of
fractal geometry rather than such of Euclidean geometry.
So maybe because of similarities between nature and
architecture,
with regard to material and structure, some of the fractal
attributes can also be found in buildings, in their elevations
and ground floors.
Thinking of self-similarity for example this is not a new aspect
in architecture, as there are similar forms on different scales
e.g. in the Gothic style. But also Frank Lloyd Wright used
variations of form on different scales as a concept of his
buildings and he did not copy nature as it is offered in trees,
but was looking for the underlying structure of their
organization: ‘Quite a different form may serve for another,
but from one basic idea all the formal elements of design are
in each case derived and held well together in scale and
character’
FRACTALS AND ARCHITECTURE

Fractals and Architecture

1. Visual Perception and Fractal Range
Architectural composition is concerned with the progression of
interesting forms from the distant view of the facade to the intimate
details. As one approaches and enters a building, there should be
another smaller scale, interesting detail that expresses the overall
intent of the composition, which is the fractal conception. Thus
fractal geometry is the formal study of this progression of self-
similar detail from large to small scales.
1. Changing of Dimensions
Benoit Mandelbrot used a wool-skein to show the changing of
mathematical constancy – the changing of the ‘effective’
dimensions. For a viewer who is far enough away from the
wool-skein, which may have a diameter of 10 centimeters and
consists of a 1-millimeter yarn, it looks like a point, a zero-
dimensional object. In a 10 centimeter resolution the skein is a
three-dimensional object, in a 10 millimeter resolution it turns
out to be a confusion of one-dimensional twines, at a 0.1
millimeter resolution each twine is experienced as a three-
dimensional column and at a millimeter resolution each
column turns again into one-dimensional fibers. If we zoom in
deeper on the resolution of an atom, the wool-skein is
presented as an object of finite numbers of atom like points
and therefore it is again zero-dimensional – remember the
So the woolskein shows a sequence of different effective
dimensions. Some badly defined change-over between zones
of well defined dimensions are interpreted as fractal zones
where the fractal dimension is higher than the topological one.
Benoit Mandelbrot also wrote about the surface of timber
being spongy but nevertheless the beam is said to be even.
This is because of the scale, in a certain ratio of size the
regular and continual aspect can describe an object in a correct
way. He compared this scale with a tinfoil that is put over a
sponge, which follows the surface but does not show the many
little complex details,
2. The Scale-Range of a Wall
Observing a straight wall, built of stones of a certain thickness,
height and length from a great distance, the object may look
like a straight line – e.g. having a look at the Great Wall of
China from the universe it will be identified as a long curve
with no width and no height. But coming closer the curve
turns into a two-dimensional plate with a certain height and
length but no width. Finally standing on the wall it will turn
out to be a three-dimensional object. Then looking at a small
stone as part of the wall a couple of meters away, this stone
may be experienced as a zero-dimensional point. But coming
closer once more, this stone turns into a three-dimensional
object. This changing of dimension can be repeated down to
the scale of the atom, which offers a physical border,
3. The Scale-Range of an Elevation
The changing of the ‘effective’ dimension is also true for other man made
objects. E.g. observing a building from far away it may seem to be a
point or, thinking of rows of houses, maybe a line. Coming closer the
two-dimensional outline can be recognized but no deepness of the
elevation. Windows seem to be points and lines. When analyzing the
elevation from the front it cannot even be said if it is only a stage-prop.
Coming closer up to a couple of meters
away from the building, more and more details like cuts of the windows
and the jumping forward and back of elements of the facade come to
one’s attention. On this scale the house is experienced as a three-
dimensional object. At some point even the roughness and structure of
the facade can be felt; it, however, depends on the material of the surface
of the building at which distance this will be. In front of the door some
more details like the doorknob can be found, which may have looked
like a straight line before
4. Conclusion
“Architectural composition is concerned with the progression of
interesting forms from the distant view of the facade to the
intimate detail. This progression is necessary to maintain
interest”. The principle of stepping forward of details by
zooming, which is mostly found in nature, should be taken up
as a reflection of the intention of the composition from the
whole to the detail. This means that for example a round
surface asks for round floor plans, which also means that the
resulting concept is understandable from the whole to the
detail. This is the fractal concept: self-similarity from scale to
scale, but of course in a more general view as with true
mathematical fractals.
By that, each distance, scale offers a certain attention to details.
Fractal structure therefore stands for the continuing of an
architectural composition from distance, the outer elevation,
the interesting detail from outside to inside and the shaping of
the interior, which means entering and ‘using’ the respective
scale. The scaling range of an object, and depending on that
the grid-size for the box-counting method, is related to the
nature of visual perception. Very fine details can be observed
only within a range of two degrees from the center of the
inspected object.
But significant details are also realized from an angle of 10, 15
and 20 degrees. Each scale has a certain distance to the
observed object, which can be expressed by the equation: the
distance from the building multiplied by tangent of the angle
is equal to the measuring unit size. But there is a difference
whether one concentrates on a certain detail or on the whole
from the same distance. In the first case, looking at the detail,
e.g. a short line in an abstract painting or the doorknob of the
entrance, objects around it will also come to our attention. If
we concentrate on a larger detail or the whole, e.g. the
elevation of the building, smaller details run out of perception.