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Chirality in Architecture
David Avnir
Institute of ChemistryThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem
In collaboration with Dirk Huylebrouck, Department of Architecture, Sint-Lucas University
NoSIC-5: Not Strictly Inorganic ChemistryPrullans de Cerdanya, June 6 - 8, 2012
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Chemists are architects
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Architecture and chemistry:The Atomium (Brussels) and the BCC
Body-centered cube
André Waterkeyn, 1958
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Geodesic dome by R. Buckminster Fuller,Washington University, St. Louis, 1954.
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Achirality has been prevalent over the history of architectureHere are three icons:
Menkaure's pyramid
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Taj Mahal
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The Empire State Building
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Chirality and handednessA one slide course
The main property of chiral objects – objects without mirror symmetry - is that they have two forms :
a left-form and a right-form (handedness)
*These left and right forms are called enantiomorphsor enantiomers
*Enantiomers are different objects ,but they look very similar .
The similarity is because they aremirror-images of each other
The difference is that theycannot coincide with each other.
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Regular right-handed screw Virtual left handed screw
A chiral object need not have a real enantiomer
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The enantiomers of Calatrava’s Chicago-Spire model
The left-handed Chicago-Spire……..…… and its virtual right-handed enantiomer
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The right-handed Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower ,Nagoya
The left-handed La Défense tower model (Wilmotte et Associés, Paris)
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Key question: Why was one enantiomer selected over the other possibility ?Was the choice deliberate?
The real left-handed model of the and its virtual right-handed enantiomer Chicago-Spire……
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But why was the Blossoming Dubai model, (Petra architects, Greece) designed as left-handed?
A screw is deliberately manufactured as right-handed.
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Calatrava’s HSB ‘Turning Torso’, Malmö, Sweden
Based on his marble sculpture, following a twisting human spine; but no clue why a left handed twist was used
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IAC (InterActiveCorp) world-headquarters, NYC (Frank Gehry)
Chirality is not limited to spiral, helical designs ,
but is a property of any structure which is devoid of bilateral symmetry
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Rolex Learning Center, Switzerland
Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize
Museum of Contemporary Art ,NYC
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Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Frank Gehry
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Handedness labeling is an agreed convention ,not an inherent property like chirality itself
Is the Guggenheim Museum a left- or right-handed building?
Given a definition of handedness, there is at least one chiral structure the handedness of which cannot be determined under that definition
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Zollverein School of Management and Design,
Germany ,Sejima and Nishizawa
Inducing chirality in achiral structures
Breaking the bilateral symmetry induces chirality
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The public art building, West Bromwich
Ontario college of art
Will Alsop
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Toyo Ito’s Hotel Realia, Barcelona
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T.I.D. Tower, Tirana, Albania (2004/12)
Peter Swinnen, 51N4E Architects, Brussels
Which is the real façade?
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Are chirality considerations relevant to architecture?
Is the choice of a specific enantiomer, important ?
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Diastereomers:
*Taste differently, smell differently
*Can heal or kill (Thalidomide)
*Perceived differently
Carvone( R) :Spearmint )S(: Caraway
(Karwij, Kümmel)
The key argument: Diastereomeric interactions (DS)
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Our biological receptor at focus :The brain
*The left and right hemispheres of the brain are very unequal
*Therefore, no mirror symmetry – the brain is chiral
*Specifically: the brain is a chiral information receptor
*Therefore, if the information – visual – is chiral, DS interactions result between the brain and the information Therefore, left and right
objects must be perceived differently by the brain
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Psychology of aesthetic perception
“When some pictures are mirror reversed, aesthetic evaluations of them change dramatically”.
“When a painting is viewed in a mirror… even the meaning can change”…
“The first major finding… was that paintings containing left-to-right directional cues were preferred ”…
A. M. Mead and J. P. McLaughlin, Brain and Cognition, 20, 300 (1992)
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N. Konstom, “Rembrandt’s use of models and mirrors”, BurlingtonMagazine, 99, 94 (1977)
Rembrandt’s 2D-chiral preferences
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* Perception is usually a 2D process, even of 3D objects
* It is mentally difficult to check for achirality by rotation/translation Therefore: “Visual chirality” is quite rich
Perception as a 2D process
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Are chirality considerations relevant/important to architecture ?
First answer: Yes, the left enantiomer and the right enantiomer of the same building may be perceived aesthetically in a different way.
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Toyo Ito Towers, Plaza Europa, Barcelona
Natural and urban environments/landscapes are chiral
Diastereomeric interactions between neighboring buildings
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La Défense tower model (Wilmotte et Associés, Paris)
Diastereomeric interactions with urban chiral environments
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Diastereomeric interactions with natural landscapes
Objects with element of randomness are always chiral
Therefore, placing the left- or a right handed version of a building in a natural landscape, results in different DS interactions
Arches Park, Utah
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The two DS’s of a chiral building in a natural chiral environment
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Are chirality considerations relevant/important to architecture ?
First answer: Yes, the left enantiomer and the right enantiomer of the same building may be perceived aesthetically in a different way.
Second answer :Yes - most environments are chiral, and therefore left- and right versions of the same structure, interact with it differently .
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More about chirality and architecture:A touch of some additional topics
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Measuring chirality
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Various degrees of chirality:
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Different degrees of chirality
Low degree and higher degree of chirality
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Resolution dependent chirality
T.I.D. Tower, Tirana, AlbaniaPeter Swinnen, 51N4E Architects, Brussels
Low resolution – far away: Achiral
High resolution- very close: Achiral
Intermediate resolution: Chiral
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Architectural aggregates and crystals
Four chiral unit cellsA housing “crystal”
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A Soviet chiral aggregate “adsorbed” on a highway
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Architectural liquid-crystal chiral phases
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Is prochirality possible in architecture?
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Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C.
Induction of chirality by light, shadows and reflections
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Static vs. Dynamically induced chirality
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Chiral enantiomerization of a left-hand to a right-hand glove
Is (chiral) enantiomerization possible in architecture?
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Dynamic chirality by illumination
Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Enantiomerization:Dynamics may introduce a flip in handedness
The enantiomerization is chiral
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The original inventor of chiral enantiomerization
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The Seattle Space Needle revolving restaurant turns clockwise .
Operators can control the rotation direction; the majority selected CW rotation !
Dynamic chirality induced by motion
Clockwise and counterclockwise motions are dynamic enantiomers
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David Fisher, Italy, ”dynamic towers”, planned for Moscow and Dubai
Summarizing example
All chiral concepts in one
Enantiomerization
Dynamic chirality Gradual change in degree of chirality
Flip in handedness
A racemic mixture
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Conclusion and Outlook
*Chirality is a neglected major structure-characterization feature in architecture
*It affects perception and the interaction of buidings with the environment
*Therefore it should be embraced by cutting-edge architecture