Geometry in Construction = Practical Geometry

Geometry in construction = practical geometry.

Does that seem strange, a philosophical stretch?  As recently as the 1930's it was widely understood, commonplace.  Since the 1950's, geometry has been taught as precise, logical, beautiful, magical, amazing.  But practical? Barely. Today the idea is usually met with skepticism.

However, you who read my blog know this is what I study: what those builders know about geometry and how did they use it? 

 

Euclid's geometry starts with a Point which has no dimensions.  Two points make a Line - 1 dimension.  3 make a Plane - 2 dimensions.

 

4 points make an object  - 3 dimensions.  

 

How can this geometry be practical? 

A Line laid out between 2 points will always be straight. 

A Line drawn by hand might curve; a Line marked by snapping a length of twine cannot curve. This is the beginning: it will be true.  If the geometry is not accurate it will not be practical.

The Line A-B can become a radius. The radius can draw a circle. 

Whether the circle is drawn with a compass set to the length of the radius. or by hand with a length of twine, it will close if the the work is accurate. If the circle does not close upon itself it is not true.        At every step of the layout if the geometry doesn't hold, the designer will know to stop and correct the drawing.

 

The radius of the circle always divides the circumference of the circle into 6 parts. If the points on the circle, marked by swinging the arc of the radius, are not spaced accurately they will not end exactly where they began. They will not be true. The work cannot proceed. These 6 points on this daisy wheel are not quite accurate.  Note that the daisy petals' shapes are not identical; the points are not equidistant. If I measured the diameters, petal to petal, they would not match. I was not careful enough.        

 

 

 

 The 6 points, joined with lines, can be used in construction.

 

The rectangles that come from the 6 points can be proved by their diagonals. If they match, the rectangle will have 90* corners and be true. If the diagonals do not match the shape is not a  rectangle. 

A building needs to be stable, whatever materials it is made from, whatever form it takes. For simple vernacular housing the circle was the practical geometry needed to erect a stable, sturdy dwelling.  

The layout tools available to the builder of the Lesser Dabney House* in rural Virginia, c. 1740, were twine, some pegs, a straight edge, some chalk or soot so the twine could mark a line, perhaps a scribe, a compass.

The builder could have laid out this house with the first 4. A peg could have served as a scribe to mark a point. Twine with a loose knot around a peg turns as a compass does.

 

 

 

Here is the floor plan as it was recorded by Henry Glassie, c. 1973: 3 rooms with 2 chimneys and a stair to the attic.  3 windows, 4 doors. The door to the left may have gone into another shed.

 

 

The builder stood where he wanted the main wall of the house to be. He pegged the width he chose with twine A-B. That length became his radius. He drew his arcs to find the center of his circle C. Then he drew his circle.  And found it true. The circle's radius steps off 6 times around its circumference. The arc create the 'daisy wheel'.

 

A-B in the diagram above became 1-2,  the width of the house. The arcs 1-3 and 2-6 of that width crossed at the center of the circle with its 6 points: 1,2,3,4,5,6. 

The Lines 1-5 and 2-4 laid out the side walls; 6-3 locate the back wall. Diagonals across the rectangular floor plan proved the layout to be true.

The main block is about 20'x17'. The 2 doors  welcomed cooling through breezes in the summer. The wall room on the right may been a later addition to create a parlor, more private and warmer in winter.

Then the builder added the shed. He made his twine the length of the house, folds it in half and then in half again. He then knew what was 1/4 the length of the house (x). He laid out that length (x) 3 times to get the depth of his shed. He stretched his twine diagonally from one corner to the other. If the twine measured 5(x) his shed walls were a 3/4/5 rectangle; the corners 90*, and  true to the main house. The shed roof framed cleanly against the house and was weather tight.

The circle and the 3/4/5 triangle - Practical Geometry -  were the only measuring systems necessary to construct this house.

 

*The Lesser Dabney House, Fig. 45, Type 3, p, 105; the photograph: p.104. 

Henry Glassie, Folk Housing in Middle Virginia, U Tennessee Press, 1975; plans, drawings and photographs by Henry Glassie.

Henry Glassie recorded floor plans and what history he could find, He photographed. He did not make measured drawings like those in HABS  now in the Library of Congress and available on its website.