Retracting Muqarnas Dome:

Muqarnas are a form of structural ornament used in Islamic architecture. A Muqarnas dome is formed by a family of blocks which stagger to disperse the load evenly among its components. Invented in 10th century Baghdad, Iraq Muqarnas articulate concept of God holding together an atomized universe.

Tomb of Zumurrad Khatun, Baghdad Iraq is the first building to use Muqarnas architecture exterior and interior dome detail

A family of blocks is differentiated by the angle

of its spine.

The most basic family is made up of 3 blocks:

45* 90* and 135* degrees.

When viewed from above the dome looks like a

tesselating pattern.

It is this contradiction between the experience of the dome in 2-d and 3-d that I would like to exploit in my final project by creating one that shifts between the two.

Translation from 2d to 3d:

Scale:

sliding.

parts.

scaffold.

connect.