Kubo-Oktaeder (Cuboctahedron)
nees-rase: architecture meets early computer art
When architect Ludwig Rase (1925-2009) and computer art pioneer Georg Nees (1926-2016) teamed up, their work turned out to be a milestone in computer aided architectural design.
In addition to developing system building structures, they created one of the earliest and best-known computer graphics with architectural references:
The Kubo-Oktaeder, also known in English as Cubo-Octaeder or Cuboctahedron.
origins: the computer in the architectural design process
By the end of the 1960s the United States had already started creating early applications of computer programs in the architectural design process.
In the late 1960s, engineers in the United States were already using applications of computer programs in the architectural design process. Early examples include some geodesic domes by Richard Buckminster Fuller, for which the architect Ronald »Ron«
Resch calculated the rod structures in different variations by using a computer program.
These geodesic domes, developed as system buildings, were widely used as exhibition stand constructions.
In Germany, the first built architectural construction based on plans developed by the use of a computer, was the Siemens pavilion at the Hanover Fair of 1970.
The pavilion was a modular roof structure supported by columns, which was also a system building designed by architect Ludwig Rase. Georg Nees had created the custom-made program in ALGOL for a Siemens System 4004.
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The Siemens pavilion at the Hanover Fair of 1970 presented on a poster: The Computer in Construction Design.
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Georg Vrachliotis describes the design process in his book »Geregelte Verhältnisse«:
»Nees did in this case not only act as an artist, but also in the role of the technical expert and architectural assistant in the sense of Gropius, writing a computer program, which was able to calculate the optimum size of the basic module for the roof structure. The clou of the program was, that Nees managed to generate different versions of the basic module and to calculate a three-dimensional model of the pavilion's structure for each of the different sized module versions.
Indeed, Rase had determined the overall concept, but the design of the different versions was no longer in his hands.«*
The computer turned out to be a major contributor to the design process. Siemens pavilion of 1970 became a medium of advertisement, and the company used the slogan: »Siemens 4004 designed exhibition stand«.
This early use of computers to solve architectural design problems set a trend for CAD in architectural offices and design processes. This system building illustrates the computer's influence on the final construction design.
Ludwig Rase stated three major benefits of integrating a computer in the design process: it enabled work on a higher level of structural systematics, supported the management of structural complexity, and allowed for the generation of a significantly larger number of design variants from which to choose.
*Quote translated after the German edition of »Geregelte Verhältnisse: Architektur und technisches Denken in der Epoche der Kybernetik« by Georg Vrachliotis. Meanwhile an English edition was released: Georg Vrachliotis: The New Technological Condition. Architecture and Design in the Age of Cybernetics. Birkhäuser, Berlin/Boston, 2022.
nees-rase: computer art meets architecture
In addition to the Siemens pavilion at the Hanover Fair 1970, Rase and Nees developed another exhibition stand for the German Industries Fair in São Paulo, 1971. This pyramid-shaped pavilion was presented was presented in an innovative film before its construction, which used computer graphics to give a preview the planned exhibition stand.
In 1970/71 Ludwig Rase, working at the Design-Institute Munich, further developed a modular structure for housing and city planning. The basic module was a »Kubo-Oktaeder«, a cuboctahedron. See Wikipedia: Cuboctahedron.
Georg Nees also wrote custom-made programs for this more utopian project. Some elements of the designed structure were presented as a temporary pavilion at the International Gardening Exhibition in Hamburg 1973 (IGA 1973).
Scale model of the cuboctahedron housing structure.*
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A modular city structure by Ludwig Rase.*
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In this case, the computer was also used for layout design. Ludwig Rase describes the use of the computer to design the overall structure:
»The challenge now is to assemble the housing elements in the most optimized way regarding the space-allocation plan. The solution can be calculated by using a computer, taking into consideration that each module can have different functions (...). The programming of the individual spatial functions is based on an »atomic model«. Each spatial unit is regarded as an atom, which can have different functions; according to given valencies, these housing units can be connected to groups (...). The spatial perspective necessary for such planning, exceeds by far the spatial sense of the designer. By using a data processing system, the accurate solutions can be visualized and optimized spatial groups can be formed.«*
In 1972, Ludwig Rase (design) and Georg Nees (program) won an art competition with a sculpture for the Werner-von-Siemens-Gymnasium in Regensburg, Germany. The sculpture »Kubo-Oktaeder«, that used to be a chromed MERO-structure of cuboctahedrons, can be seen in the theatre yard of the school: The aged sculpture was painted white several years ago as part of a student renovation project.
*Quote and images from Ludwig Rase: Two- and Three-Dimensional Computer Design, in NOVUM Gebrauchsgraphik August 8/1972
the computer graphic: kubo-oktaeder
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Ludwig Rase, Georg Nees: Kubo-Oktaeder
serigraph poster for the exhibition »computer art« at Kunsthalle Hamburg 1972/73
serigraph after plotter drawing, 1972
Idea: Georg Nees, Ludwig Rase
Program: Georg Nees
Generated 1968-1970**, likely in Munich, Germany.
Programmed in ALGOL for
Siemens 4004 (acc. to print) and
drawn on a ZUSE-Graphomat Z64.
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This serigraph with the computer graphic »Kubo-Oktaeder« was printed in 1972 for the exhibition »computer art. nees rase.«,
which took place at the Kunsthalle in Hamburg, Germany, between 29.9.1972 and 14.1.1973.
The motif was an art project by Rase and Nees depicting the world of Humanities and Natural Sciences in harmony***.
It is composed of two elements: a human figure in two elevations and an architectural structure.
The human figure is an artistic quote, it is a proportion study by Albrecht Dürer and represents the Humanities.
The figure is shown frontal and on the side, displaying the auxiliary lines used in constructing the drawing.
The two elevations resemble the scale figures used in many architectural illustrations, positioned besides a structure formed by aligned and overlying cuboctahedrons.
The drawing of the cuboctahedron structure used in this computer graphic stands for the Natural Sciences.
It is a rotated version of a computer generated isometric drawing of Ludwig Rase's housing structure.
The technical structure is connected to the human heads—or even appears to emanate from them—extends down to the feet, and envelops the human form like an extension.
**The Bremen catalogue »Ex Machina« gives the years 1968-1970, and quotes Georg Nees, by giving the generative credits to the Siemens 2002 computer.
***Ludwig Rase: Computerunterstützter Entwurf von Raumstrukturen. In: Apparative Kunst, edited by Herbert W. Franke and Gottfried Jäger, 1973
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