Chirality in Architecture

David Avnir

Institute of ChemistryThe Hebrew University of Jerusalem

In collaboration with Dirk Huylebrouck, Department of Architecture, Sint-Lucas University

 

NoSIC-5: Not Strictly Inorganic ChemistryPrullans de Cerdanya, June 6 - 8, 2012

Chemists are architects

Architecture and chemistry:The Atomium (Brussels) and the BCC

Body-centered cube

André Waterkeyn, 1958

Geodesic dome by R. Buckminster Fuller,Washington University, St. Louis, 1954.

Achirality has been prevalent over the history of architectureHere are three icons:

Menkaure's pyramid

Taj Mahal

The Empire State Building

Chirality and handednessA one slide course

The main property of chiral objects – objects without mirror symmetry - is that they have two forms :

a left-form and a right-form (handedness)

*These left and right forms are called enantiomorphsor enantiomers

*Enantiomers are different objects ,but they look very similar .

The similarity is because they aremirror-images of each other

The difference is that theycannot coincide with each other.

Regular right-handed screw Virtual left handed screw

A chiral object need not have a real enantiomer

The enantiomers of Calatrava’s Chicago-Spire model

The left-handed Chicago-Spire……..…… and its virtual right-handed enantiomer

The right-handed Mode Gakuen Spiral Tower ,Nagoya

The left-handed La Défense tower model (Wilmotte et Associés, Paris)

Key question: Why was one enantiomer selected over the other possibility ?Was the choice deliberate?

The real left-handed model of the and its virtual right-handed enantiomer Chicago-Spire……

But why was the Blossoming Dubai model, (Petra architects, Greece) designed as left-handed?

A screw is deliberately manufactured as right-handed.

Calatrava’s HSB ‘Turning Torso’, Malmö, Sweden

Based on his marble sculpture, following a twisting human spine; but no clue why a left handed twist was used

IAC (InterActiveCorp) world-headquarters, NYC (Frank Gehry)

Chirality is not limited to spiral, helical designs ,

but is a property of any structure which is devoid of bilateral symmetry

Rolex Learning Center, Switzerland

Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa (SANAA) 2010 Pritzker Architecture Prize

Museum of Contemporary Art ,NYC

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Frank Gehry

Handedness labeling is an agreed convention ,not an inherent property like chirality itself

Is the Guggenheim Museum a left- or right-handed building?

Given a definition of handedness, there is at least one chiral structure the handedness of which cannot be determined under that definition

Zollverein School of Management and Design,

Germany ,Sejima and Nishizawa

Inducing chirality in achiral structures

Breaking the bilateral symmetry induces chirality

The public art building, West Bromwich

Ontario college of art

Will Alsop

Toyo Ito’s Hotel Realia, Barcelona

T.I.D. Tower, Tirana, Albania (2004/12)

Peter Swinnen, 51N4E Architects, Brussels

Which is the real façade?

Are chirality considerations relevant to architecture?

Is the choice of a specific enantiomer, important ?

Diastereomers:

*Taste differently, smell differently

*Can heal or kill (Thalidomide)

*Perceived differently

Carvone( R) :Spearmint )S(: Caraway

(Karwij, Kümmel)

The key argument: Diastereomeric interactions (DS)

Our biological receptor at focus :The brain

*The left and right hemispheres of the brain are very unequal

*Therefore, no mirror symmetry – the brain is chiral

*Specifically: the brain is a chiral information receptor

*Therefore, if the information – visual – is chiral, DS interactions result between the brain and the information Therefore, left and right

objects must be perceived differently by the brain

Psychology of aesthetic perception

“When some pictures are mirror reversed, aesthetic evaluations of them change dramatically”.

“When a painting is viewed in a mirror… even the meaning can change”…

“The first major finding… was that paintings containing left-to-right directional cues were preferred ”…

A. M. Mead and J. P. McLaughlin, Brain and Cognition, 20, 300 (1992)

N. Konstom, “Rembrandt’s use of models and mirrors”, BurlingtonMagazine, 99, 94 (1977)

Rembrandt’s 2D-chiral preferences

* Perception is usually a 2D process, even of 3D objects

* It is mentally difficult to check for achirality by rotation/translation Therefore: “Visual chirality” is quite rich

Perception as a 2D process

Are chirality considerations relevant/important to architecture ?

First answer: Yes, the left enantiomer and the right enantiomer of the same building may be perceived aesthetically in a different way.

Toyo Ito Towers, Plaza Europa, Barcelona

Natural and urban environments/landscapes are chiral

Diastereomeric interactions between neighboring buildings

La Défense tower model (Wilmotte et Associés, Paris)

Diastereomeric interactions with urban chiral environments

Diastereomeric interactions with natural landscapes

Objects with element of randomness are always chiral

Therefore, placing the left- or a right handed version of a building in a natural landscape, results in different DS interactions

Arches Park, Utah

The two DS’s of a chiral building in a natural chiral environment

Are chirality considerations relevant/important to architecture ?

First answer: Yes, the left enantiomer and the right enantiomer of the same building may be perceived aesthetically in a different way.

Second answer :Yes - most environments are chiral, and therefore left- and right versions of the same structure, interact with it differently .

More about chirality and architecture:A touch of some additional topics

Measuring chirality

Various degrees of chirality:

Different degrees of chirality

Low degree and higher degree of chirality

Resolution dependent chirality

T.I.D. Tower, Tirana, AlbaniaPeter Swinnen, 51N4E Architects, Brussels

Low resolution – far away: Achiral

High resolution- very close: Achiral

Intermediate resolution: Chiral

Architectural aggregates and crystals

Four chiral unit cellsA housing “crystal”

A Soviet chiral aggregate “adsorbed” on a highway

Architectural liquid-crystal chiral phases

Is prochirality possible in architecture?

Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, D.C.

Induction of chirality by light, shadows and reflections

Static vs. Dynamically induced chirality

Chiral enantiomerization of a left-hand to a right-hand glove

Is (chiral) enantiomerization possible in architecture?

Dynamic chirality by illumination

Petronas Twin Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Enantiomerization:Dynamics may introduce a flip in handedness

The enantiomerization is chiral

The original inventor of chiral enantiomerization

The Seattle Space Needle revolving restaurant turns clockwise .

Operators can control the rotation direction; the majority selected CW rotation !

Dynamic chirality induced by motion

Clockwise and counterclockwise motions are dynamic enantiomers

David Fisher, Italy, ”dynamic towers”, planned for Moscow and Dubai

Summarizing example

All chiral concepts in one

Enantiomerization

Dynamic chirality Gradual change in degree of chirality

Flip in handedness

A racemic mixture

Conclusion and Outlook

*Chirality is a neglected major structure-characterization feature in architecture

*It affects perception and the interaction of buidings with the environment

*Therefore it should be embraced by cutting-edge architecture