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Ah
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meedd AAl
Allii Ellkkh
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King Abdulaziz University Department of Architecture Faculty of Environmental Design
Jeddah, Saudia Arabia [email protected]
Keywords: domes, domes mathematics, Islamic
architecture, Cairo, pendentives, squinches, muquarnas
Research
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Abbssttrraacctt.. This work analyzes mathematically and graphically the two methods used historically in the transitional zone between the circular base of the dome and the square top of the cube where the dome is supported. The time frame of this work is the distinguished historical buildings of Islamic Cairo built between the ninth and eighteenth centuries. Ten samples were chosen out of a total of thirty. A set of mathematical expressions has been derived to relate the different parts of the squinches/pendentives to the cube with a side of length l. The equations derived were validated twice, first by generating 3D graphical sequences for both squinches and pendentives for the selected domes using CAD software based on the values obtained from the driven equations, and second by executing physical models using a 3D printer for two examples of squinches and pendentives.
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Domes are one of the most distinguished architectural elements; their antiquity (which may date back to more than five thousand years ago) increases their ambiguity and charm, and their high flexibility in covering the very wide range of different spans from few meters to hundreds of meters increases their modernity and power. From the greatness of history and the strength of the present, domes acquired their originality and modernity, thus it deserve to be the king of all roofs. Historically there isnt any difficulty in constructing walls as boundaries for a space to fulfill the requirements of both privacy and security, as construction is one of the oldest human activities, but the real problem was how to cover or...