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Geometric Patterns Notes

Modular grids are geometric structures composed of repeating figures or modules that fill a plane without gaps. There are three regular tessellations using equilateral triangles, squares, and hexagons as the repeating figures. Transformations including translations, rotations, and reflections can be applied to modules while maintaining their shape and area, allowing for different but equivalent tessellations to fill the plane. Muslims historically used modular grids with non-representational forms for religious reasons, and their techniques of transforming shapes through cutting and pasting influenced later mathematicians and artists.

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264 views

Geometric Patterns Notes

Modular grids are geometric structures composed of repeating figures or modules that fill a plane without gaps. There are three regular tessellations using equilateral triangles, squares, and hexagons as the repeating figures. Transformations including translations, rotations, and reflections can be applied to modules while maintaining their shape and area, allowing for different but equivalent tessellations to fill the plane. Muslims historically used modular grids with non-representational forms for religious reasons, and their techniques of transforming shapes through cutting and pasting influenced later mathematicians and artists.

Uploaded by

gerzona73
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Modular grids: are generally geometric structures in which a figure is repeated to form a

composition. These figures are usually polygons or equivalent shapes.


Modular grids composed of figures that fill in the plane without gaps are called tessellations.
There are only three regular tessellations (made repeating regular polygons).
The module or tile is the basic
figure which is repeated in the
compositions of Modular grids.
As shown in the drawings on
the left, there are only three
regular polygons that tessellate
the plane, the Regular grids.
MODULE
The super-module or main module is a OR TILE
figure composed of several basic
modules which also acts as a module in
a composition. SUPERMODULE

The Arabs were specialists in developing this type of decoration. In Muslim culture,
because of the doctrines of the Koran, the artists and craftsmen must not represent human
figures or animals in temples, religious objects or books. That is why they chose this way of
decoration, in which modules are not recognizable figures of people or animals.
But Muslim culture is not the only one who has developed the partition of the plane.
Mathematicians, artists and designers have also approached to study this interesting fact.
Escher or Vassarelly are two very good examples.

Simple Modular grids: are composed of one single figure


repeated.

Composite Modular grids: Are those consisting of two or


more figures that repeat. When these figures are tilings
must be polygons, even if they have different number of
sides they must have equal sides.

There are also modules or Modular grids composed of


overlapping networks or simple tiles.
Simple Modular Composite Modular Simple polygon
Network Network Network
The anomaly is a plastic resource that changes the order, the
position or shape of the tiles or units to attract attention
creating motion effects, or three-dimensional plane distortion.
Bridget Riley and other artists of the Op Art were experts
applying this visual appeal.

The circles are also very common in grids. But as they do


not show sides in their outlines can not fill the plane in a
Separation Tangency Junction
tessellation. On the left, the ways in which the circles can be
arranged to accomplish pattern compositions with them as
Overlapping Transparenciy Intersetcion tiles.

On the right we see two different ways to


arrange the circles on the plane.

These two forms were the basis that


Muslims used to from them, linking
different intersections getting semiregular
tessellations.

A semi-regular tessellation is one that with


regular polygons (all with the same side
length) while filling the plane leaving no
gaps.

GEOMETRIC PATTERNS
Movements in a plane:Dynamic Geometry: Isometries
A movement is transforming the position of a figure in the plane, in this case our modules or tiles.
Specifically, when we apply a movement, the tile will hold its shape (its sides, its size, its area and
its angles are equal: Isometry) but change its position in the plane. There are three types of
Isometric movements:
TRANSLATION:
slope direction

length Translate a figure is moving


it, pushing it. All translations
are determined by a vector.
A vector is determined by a
lenght (modulus or
distance), a slope and a
direction

ROTATION OR TURN
To rotate a figure you need a
center of rotation, an angular

length and a direction 45
(clockwise or counterclockwise).
The rotation center may be 90 Rotation center on a
positioned inside or outside the Rotation vertex of the figure.
center out of
edges of the figure the figure.
5 times repeated 60
degrees rotation.
AXIAL SYMMETRY OR REFLEXION
Symmetry is a geometric
transformation operation or which is
present in many natural and artificial
objects. It consists of reflecting the
figure regarding an axis of symmetry.
All symmetrical points are on a
perpendicular to the axis, across and at
the same distance of it.
Tile transformations in tessellations: EQUIVALENCES
We have seen that there are three regular tessellations (triangles, squares and hexagons)
and semiregular (there are eight), in which more than one regular polygon appear. We can also
find many tessellations whose tiles are irregular polygons. And being repeated they can fill the
plane (irregular triangles, rhombuses or rectangles for example).
There is the possibility of altering the shape of the tile (mainly used in tessellations that only
one tile, figure or module) so that the altered shape fill in the same way the plane. These employ
equivalent figures .
The equivalence is a ratio between figures (any plane figure) where the original shape and
the transformed have the same surface area.

As we can see in the pictures above we have obtained an equivalent figure of the triangle
(called Nazari birdie) and another figure (Nazari bone) equivalent to the square. We got the new
figures cutting and pasting the cuts in a different places.
These cuttings or transformations atend to the laws of isometries (translation, rotation and
symmetries). There are various procedures methods to obtain an equivalent figure, applying
isometries, also tessellating the plane as the original figures. The Arabs and M.C. Escher were
experts on this topic.

TESELLATION: Dinamic Geometry and equivalence

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