Journal for Geometry and Graphics 11 (2007), No. 1, 111--126
Copyright Heldermann Verlag 2007
Spire-Polyhedra
Laszlo Strommer
Dept. of Architectural Representation, University of Technology and Economics, Müegyetem rkp. 3, 1111 Budapest, Hungary
strommer@arch.bme.hu
The shapes of the spires of Western European medieval churches show almost as high variability as their interiors, but while inside -- after the first Millennium -- the builders began to use curved surfaces (i.e., vaults), the spires mostly kept their polyhedral (or conical) shapes. Architecture -- due to its necessities and restrictions -- used only a limited portion of the infinite set of potentially possible polyhedral shapes -- such a small subset, that it seems conceivable to categorise them, or at least most of them. This paper suggests a method of classification of spire shapes, postulating that the more complex forms can be produced as compounds (either intersections or unions) of some basic shapes.
Keywords: Spire, geometry, classification of spire shapes.
MSC: 51N05
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