Volute Counterfactual

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND
Triply-Periodic Minimal Surfaces are mathematical objects that form a continuous partitioning of three-dimensional space with a curving surface of zero gaussian curvature. Through the soap-film models and the work of such architects as Frei Otto, minimal surfaces have a history as architectural structures. This project by Paul Minifie is one of a series that explores the architectural properties of the Triply-Periodic family of minimal surfaces.

RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION
Volute examines how an abstract, scaleless object might come to be in the material world at a particular scale and size. Further, by establishing the trajectories of particles traversing the surface, it examines a potential structure for supporting such non-standard architectural forms.

RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE
Volute was exhibited at the 2008 Venice Biennale of Architecture, a prestigious forum for advanced architectural thought.