{"id":{"repo_id":"mit","oai_identifier":"oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/65438"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/mit/oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/65438","repository":{"repo_id":"mit","name":"MIT","base_url":"https://dspace.mit.edu/oai/request"},"display":{"title":"The soft grid","abstract":"The grid in architecture is a systematic organization of space. The means that architects use to organize space are, almost by definition, rigid and totalizing. The Cartesian grid, which will serve as the antagonist of the soft grid, is geometrically and topologically unyielding on both the local and global scales. There are, however, alternatives to such hard grids. Through a series of studies, this thesis will catalog and analyze the soft girds, i.e. those that are adaptive, variable, scalable, asymmetrical and entropic. Computational tools in architecture have, in recent years, enabled designers to manage geometries that until now have been realizable only by analog means. The instrumental capacity for complex designs has lead to increased demand for soft gridding systems as is evidenced by the profusion of Voronoi diagrams, pixelations, distorted grids and Danzer tilings in student and conceptual work. However, the built scale of such projects is rarely beyond installation largely because of the difficulty in managing spatial organizations that are not essentially Cartesian. Th is thesis will lay the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the possibilities of soft grids while providing much of the computational tools to generate and manage specific examples.","abstract_html":"The grid in architecture is a systematic organization of space. The means that architects use to organize space are, almost by definition, rigid and totalizing. The Cartesian grid, which will serve as the antagonist of the soft grid, is geometrically and topologically unyielding on both the local and global scales. There are, however, alternatives to such hard grids. Through a series of studies, this thesis will catalog and analyze the soft girds, i.e. those that are adaptive, variable, scalable, asymmetrical and entropic. Computational tools in architecture have, in recent years, enabled designers to manage geometries that until now have been realizable only by analog means. The instrumental capacity for complex designs has lead to increased demand for soft gridding systems as is evidenced by the profusion of Voronoi diagrams, pixelations, distorted grids and Danzer tilings in student and conceptual work. However, the built scale of such projects is rarely beyond installation largely because of the difficulty in managing spatial organizations that are not essentially Cartesian. Th is thesis will lay the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the possibilities of soft grids while providing much of the computational tools to generate and manage specific examples.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Kardasis, Ari (Ari David)"],"institution":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology","degree_name":null,"degree_level":null,"degree_discipline":null,"degree_department":"Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture.","school":null,"contributors":[],"advisors":["Terry Knight."],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2011,"date_issued":"2011","date_published":"2011","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:04Z","subjects":["Architecture."],"languages":["eng"],"rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"rights_urls":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65438","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier.uri"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor.advisor","label":"Advisor","values":["Terry Knight."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.department","label":"Department","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture."]},{"key":"dc:contributor.other","label":"Dc Contributor Other","values":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.","Cataloged from student submitted PDF version of thesis.","Includes bibliographical references (p. 99-101)."]},{"key":"dc:description.abstract","label":"Abstract","values":["The grid in architecture is a systematic organization of space. The means that architects use to organize space are, almost by definition, rigid and totalizing. The Cartesian grid, which will serve as the antagonist of the soft grid, is geometrically and topologically unyielding on both the local and global scales. There are, however, alternatives to such hard grids. Through a series of studies, this thesis will catalog and analyze the soft girds, i.e. those that are adaptive, variable, scalable, asymmetrical and entropic. Computational tools in architecture have, in recent years, enabled designers to manage geometries that until now have been realizable only by analog means. The instrumental capacity for complex designs has lead to increased demand for soft gridding systems as is evidenced by the profusion of Voronoi diagrams, pixelations, distorted grids and Danzer tilings in student and conceptual work. However, the built scale of such projects is rarely beyond installation largely because of the difficulty in managing spatial organizations that are not essentially Cartesian. Th is thesis will lay the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the possibilities of soft grids while providing much of the computational tools to generate and manage specific examples."]},{"key":"dc:description.degree","label":"Dc Description Degree","values":["S.M."]},{"key":"dc:title","label":"Title","values":["The soft grid"]}]}],"canonical_facts":{"dc:contributor.advisor":["Terry Knight."],"dc:contributor.department":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Architecture."],"dc:contributor.other":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 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Th is thesis will lay the groundwork for a systematic understanding of the possibilities of soft grids while providing much of the computational tools to generate and manage specific examples."],"dc:description.degree":["S.M."],"dc:identifier.uri":["http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/65438"],"dc:language.iso":["eng"],"dc:publisher":["Massachusetts Institute of Technology"],"dc:rights":["M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission."],"dc:rights.uri":["http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582"],"dc:subject":["Architecture."],"dc:title":["The soft grid"],"dc:type":["Thesis"]},"updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:21:04Z"}