Spiral structures such as a banal spiral staircase - even though the one in this picture is not banal at all being the one inside Glasgow's Lighthouse, Scotland's Centre for Architecture and Design - can be incredibly inspiring and lead to the creation of interesting clothes and accessories.
Yet while a spiral staircase is obviously a feature built by human hand, there are different types of spirals: from Pythagorean and Fibonacci spirals to fascinating spiral structures resulting from the family of fractals called Julia sets or spiral patterns created by nature.
Think about sea shells and you will find architecturally perfect spiral structures in the Nautilus pompilius or the Turbinella pyrum, but also in the lovely Astraea heliotropium and Astrea phoebia and in the Tectarius pagodus.
In the case of the Nautilus or the Turbinella, the spiral structure is more linear and evident when the shell is sectioned off; in the other cases the spiral structure is clear already from the outside and it actually extends into a star-like formation ("astrea" comes from the Latin "astra", meaning "star") creating a series of spiny projections.
These structures made me think a lot about Threeasfour's Autumn/Winter 2012-13 collection. Circularity seemed to be the main theme of this collection, but circles were at times overlaid on mini-dresses, at others they formed engulfing coats or were transformed into elaborate laser-cut leather three-dimensional swirls and curlicues with spiny formations employed to embellish a dress or a bodysuit.
While spiral structures can be extremely inspiring, there will be other equally exciting intricate structures and different types of “shells” to explore at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2012 (from 29th August - the theme of this edition is "Common Ground"), such as Zaha Hadid's "Arum".
Inspired by Frei Otto's studies on materials and fluidity of the forms and spaces, this pleated metal installation explores the possibilities given by light-weight shells in combination with tensile structures.
The installation will be surrounded by the documentation of the studio's research, including key reference projects by Frei Otto, Felix Candela and Heinz Isler among others and will also feature the work of Philippe Block, an architectural engineer and contemporary researcher of stone compression shells. You can view the concept animation for the project in the following video. Looking forward to seeing this project in person and spotting further inspiring structures at the Venice Architecture Biennale.
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