The Geometrical Foundation of Natural Structure: A Source Book of Design

292 Pages·22.45 MB·English

by  Robert Williams

bert Williams
GEOMETRICAL
UNDATION
ATURAL
CTURE
e Book Design
of
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(continued on inside back cover)
Williams, Robert );//zJ
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THE
GEOMETRICAL
FOUNDATION
OF NATURAL
STRUCTURE

THE
GEOMETRICAL
FOUNDATION
OF NATURAL
STRUCTURE
A SOURCE BOOK OF DESIGN
Robert Williams
DOVER
PUBLICATIONS,
INC.
NEW NORK
s
SSU5ALIT0 PUBLIC L1BRAKX
©
Copyright 1972, 1979 by Robert Williams.
All rights reserved under Pan American and Interna-
tional Copyright Conventions.
Publishedin Canada byGeneral PublishingCompany,
Ltd., 30 Lesmill Road, Don Mills, Toronto, Ontario.
Published in the United Kingdom by Constable and
Company, Ltd.. 10 OrangeStreet, London VVC2H 7EG.
This Dover edition, first published in 1979, is an
unabridged and corrected republication of the work
originally published by the Eudaemon Press, Moorpark,
California, in 1972underthetitleNaturalStructure. The
author has contributed a new preface and additional
bibliography to this Dover edition.
International Standard Book Number: 0-486-23729-X
Library ofCongress Catalog Card Number: 78-74118
Manufactured in the United States of America
Dover Publications, Inc.
180 Varick Street
New York, N.Y. 10014
PREFACE TO THE DOVER EDITION
My intention in writing Natural Structure was to present in a
single book a comprehensive body of theoretical information on geo-
metric form in space--form language--for the use of architects, en-
vironmental designers, and scientists. The book remains an important
resource for those exploring the beautiful interrelationships among
geometric forms. It is a logical whole, complete in itself.
The Dover volume retains this wholeness. I have taken the op-
portunity presented by this new edition to make many improvements
in phrasing, to correct small typographical errors, to change a few
of the illustrations, and to enlarge the bibliography substantially.
Beyond this, the work is the same. All the geometry contained in it
is derived from such scientific disciplines as mathematics, physics,
chemistry, botany, and virology.
In the seven years that have elapsed since the original publica-
tion, the chief emphasis of my research has been on the symbolic
content of form, and today I would no longer stress the strictly
scientific approach. Logical argument now seems to offer only a
partial explanation of the universal language of nature, in which a
form, in the words of D'Arcy Thompson, is really a "diagram of forces."
I now see geometry as touching our sense of being, as a bridge be-
tween the universe and each of us.
Nevertheless, whether or not scientific principles are considered
as paramount, Natural Structure, with its purely scientific foundation,
is still a basic research tool.
Robert Williams
San Cristobal de las Casas
Chiapas, Mexico