A Toroidal Walk in the Park

Author(s): Stephen Luecking

Source: Math Horizons, Vol. 25, No. 1 (September 2017), pp. 12-14
Published by: Mathematical Association of America
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 A Toroidal
Walk in the Park

D
STEPHEN LUECKING
eployed to the right of the grand entry stairs to Barcelona’s Park Güell is a unique archi-
tectural space from an architect renowned for his unusual spaces. The space, a grotto
tucked into the embankment of one of the park’s grand terraces, takes the form of
a torus whose outer cross section is an ellipse and whose inner cross section is a
hyperbola.
In ₁₉₀₀ , when Antonio Gaudi (₁₈₅₂–₁₉₂₆) was commissioned by the Güell family to design the
grounds for a luxury subdivision to be developed on the outskirts of Barcelona, he was experiment-
ing with quadratic curves and surfaces. Its myriad buildings—arcades, grottoes, and pavilions—
offered him the opportunity to test this new library of structures he had developed. Until
then, Gaudi was apprehensive about his new category of shapes: Why, he wondered,
had no one yet exploited these elegant forms in architecture? There might be, he
reasoned, problems of which he was unaware. With Park Güell as his testing
grounds, Gaudi soon learned that these new forms were both structurally
valid and resoundingly elegant.
Gaudi developed his structures in a variety of ways; chief among
them were his experiments with funicular curves and with surfaces
of revolution. In the case of the former, he hung strings weight-
ed at intervals with small bags of lead shot (see figure ₂).
If the weights were evenly distributed along the length
of the line, the consequent curve approximated
a catenary—the shape of a hanging chain and
the St. Louis Arch. If the suspended weights
were distributed along the string to form
equal intervals when measured on the
horizontal, then the string approxi-
mated a parabola.

Figure 1. The surface of this cutaway view of the grotto’s

torus is formed by revolving a curve that joins segments of
an ellipse and a hyperbola at their common tangents (see
figure 5).

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 Figure 2. Funicular curves. Weights hung at equal
intervals along a line cast the line into a catenary. If
hung at equal intervals along the horizontal, they cause
it to drape into a parabola.

Designed, in effect, by gravity, Gaudi found that these

suspended curves, when stiffened into stone or steel and
rotated 180 degrees, proved far more efficient in evenly
distributing the weight bearing down on them than did
circular arches. Since the weight of a wall above an arch
is distributed on the horizontal, it is best that the arch
be parabolic (see figure 3).
Gaudi produced models of revolved surfaces with a
plaster lathe. In plaster lathing, the model-maker packs
clumps of thick, wet plaster onto a turntable, such as a
Figure 3. A parabolic arch on a gatehouse to Park Güell.
potter’s wheel. The plaster turns against a profile curve
and gradually takes on the rotated shape of the profile. ceiling, and central column complete a surface of
Some ruled surfaces—surfaces able to be generated by revolution as seen from inside (see figures 1 and 5).
a tracing the movement of a straight line—like Gaudi’s The column, therefore, is actually the hole of the
much-favored hyperboloid, may be turned against a torus and seems less a column and more the logical
straightedge set at an angle, off the vertical, to the axis continuation of the same surface that defines the
of rotation (see figure 4). By varying the angle of the walls. Aiding this effect is the fact that the grotto
straightedge as well as the top and bottom radii of the comprises the majority of the torus, so that the
hyperboloid, Gaudi could generate hyperboloids in dif- plane of the floor is a few feet below the horizon-
fering proportions and curvatures. He also sometimes tal bisection of the torus (see figure 1). The outer
varied this surface by tilting its end planes, causing it to
wall curves back inward while the “column” flares
compress to one side.
back outward, conveying the sense that the surface
Walking through wrought-iron gates, examples of
wraps around to meet beneath the feet. Visitors
both shape categories greet visitors. Each gatehouse
access the grotto through one of three elliptical
boasts a parabolic arch framing its entry door, and
arches: two smaller side arches and a larger central
immediately opposite is the toroidal grotto. Its walls,
arch (see figure 6).
Gaudi’s stylized cave is unique in that it is an en-
tire architectural space formed into a torus. Like all

Figure 5. The axis

Figure 4. Left: A hyperboloid surface lathed in plaster of revolution of the
with a straightedge. Right: Increasing the angle of the grotto’s torus runs
generating line creates a narrower hyperboloid, like that through the central
used by Gaudi. hyperboloid.

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 The Calculus of Happiness
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Figure 6. Exterior view of Gaudi’s toroidal grotto with its different methods and types of encryption.”
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Stephen Luecking, a widely exhibited artist, is former Paper $55.00

chair of the art department at DePaul University in

Chicago and cofounder of the graphics program in the
university’s computer science school.
press.princeton.edu

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