3.11 Growth patterns

Contents list

• 3.1 Pattern language
• 3.2 Origin of pattern language
• 3.3 Development of pattern language
• 3.4 Enemies of pattern language
• 3.5 Structuralism and the pattern language
• 3.6 Psychological patterns
• 3.7 Ecological patterns
• 3.8 Behavioural patterns
• 3.9 Story patterns
• 3.10 Geomorphological patterns
• 3.11 Growth patterns
• 3.12 Visual patterns
• 3.13 Design patterns
• 3.14 Pattern classification
• 3.15 Pattern recommendations
• References

D'Arcy Thompson was interested in the relationship between mathematics and the generation of form. He wrote that the harmony of the world is made manifest in Form and Number, and the heart and soul and all the poetry of Natural Philosophy are embodied in the concept of mathematical beauty. (Thompson, 1961)

This relationship, which must be of interest to designers, is beautifully illustrated by the nautilus shell, which grows as a geometrical progression (Figure 3.15 and below).