Images courtesy of Lebbeus Woods

Visionary architect, artist, and avid blogger Lebbeus Woods recently came across a 1970s pattern book of the old city of Prague. Comparing it to a dressmaker’s pattern book, Woods admired the pages of colorful, abstract forms, each one meant to be meticulously cut out and then assembled with the others into a three-dimensional paper model. More after the jump!

Woods was not only impressed by the precision and dexterity required to measure and visualize these forms in an age without computers, but he found the pages of the pattern book themselves to be very architecturally inclined, even more so than obvious pictorial representations of buildings. Arranged to fit economically on a flat sheet of paper, the patterns have strong architectural considerations in mind. As a result, they have been extrapolated into curious shapes and then crammed and tucked in unusual ways to yield the most efficient and functional result.

We also found the collection of geometric forms to be an incredible feat. While 3D renderings programs today can do much of the visualization work for us, these flat patterns expose a wonderful sort of paper engineering which forces us to understand the material (paper) as the basis of an ambitious vision (the old city of Prague).

We were reminded of the sixteenth-century architect Philibert de L’Orme, whose visual acumen as a trained mason yielded extraordinary pattern books at the end of the Renaissance. His paper engineering allowing him to break classical conventions and build fantastical structures like the one shown below.

Drawings by Philibert de L’Orme via Regione Campania

Photos via G_U_E_D_E’s flickr.

by Kelly Chan

posted in Uncategorized

tagged 1970s, Architecture, Czech Republic, design, france, Galerie de Philibert de L'Orme, lebbeus woods, lyon, paper architecture, pattern, Pattern Book, patterns, Philibert de L'Orme, Prague, Renaissance

more articles by Kelly Chan