[Maths-Education] Maths-Art Seminar at London Knowledge Lab: December 8, 'Bubbles in Beijing' by Patricia Wackrill

[Phillip Kent]

*** PLEASE CIRCULATE ** ALL WELCOME **

BUBBLES IN BEIJING: THE STORY BEHIND THE
WATERCUBE AQUATICS CENTRE

An LKL Maths-Art Seminar
by
Patricia Wackrill
Tuesday 8 December, 6.00 - 7.30pm

The Watercube aquatics centre made a spectacular impression at the
Beijing Olympics, resembling at night a glowing cube made of blue
bubbles. The story of the Watercube's design can be told as the
mathematical history of efficient packing in 2 and 3 dimensions. Lord
Kelvin studied soap bubbles and defined the 'Kelvin problem' in 1887:
how can space be partitioned into cells of equal volume with the least
area of surface between them, i.e., what is the most efficient soap
bubble foam? Kelvin's solution consisted of tetrakaidecahedra (with 8
hexagonal and 6 square faces); a model makes it easier for one to be
convinced that such shapes do fit together to fill space. For more than
100 years, Kelvin's solution was believed to be the most efficient foam
structure. Then, in 1993, two physicists in Dublin, Denis Weaire and
Robert Phelan, used computer-based search to, surprisingly, identify a
more efficient structure. This uses two kinds of irregular polyhedral
cells, and models are even more necessary to enable one to see how they
squeeze up to one another to fill space. Ten years later, a team of
architects and structural engineers were looking for a design idea for
the Olympic Aquatics Centre which would portray the theme of water and
also symbolise some Chinese ideal in cultural terms. Make the building
square and you have the Chinese ideal of regulated harmony. Arup's
designers already knew about using bubbles to form a structural cage for
a building; they discovered that the Weaire–Phelan structure could be
used as a basis for a structural frame for a cuboidal building, and
present an exterior surface which appears organic and 'random' whilst
actually being a repeating pattern. A foam structure has many other
desirable properties and constructional advantages for architecture. The
story is not over yet: Anthony Gormley may well realise his idea for a
sculpture of a man, based on the same structure, for the Dublin Docklands.

PATRICIA WACKRILL developed a love for geometry and pattern during her
childhood in Ireland, surrounded by souvenirs her parents had brought
back from the Sudan with Islamic interlacing, and by Christmas cards
with Celtic knotwork. This led her to a mathematics degree at Oxford,
and a passion for geometry that has continued to this day alongside a
professional career as a university teacher and mathematical researcher.
A current enthusiasm for constructing 3-dimensional models threatens to
overwhelm the Wackrill household!

TIME: 6.00 - 7.30pm, Tuesday 8 December 2009
PLACE: London Knowledge Lab, 23-29 Emerald St, London, WC1N 3QS
[Travel information & maps at: http://bit.ly/LKL-MathsArt-venue ]

All welcome. No reservation required, but an email to
lkl.maths.art at gmail.com would be appreciated for planning purposes

Next seminars: January 12, Gregory Epps on curved folding; February 9,
Alan Sutcliffe and John Sharp on circles.

*Visit the website and seminar archive:
http://www.lkl.ac.uk/events/maths-art
*Join the email list for future seminar announcements:
http://www.dcs.bbk.ac.uk/mailman/listinfo/lkl-maths-art


++++++++
Dr Phillip Kent
London Knowledge Lab - Institute of Education
23 - 29 Emerald St
London WC1N 3QS
p.kent at ioe.ac.uk
tel 020 7763 2156   mobile 07950 952034
www.RISKatIOE.org , www.phillipkent.net
++++++++