On the geometry of orthogonal prefabricated building systems

This paper is a description of a model of building systems in architecture. The general aim of this paper is to show how a construction system can be analyzed and planned by the help of rules derived from the topological and geometrical properties of its elements. First are presented some general problems which arise in construction from prefabricated elements. Because orthogonal construction systems are used most frequently, consideration is confined to these. More concretely, a model is constructed which represents feasible construction systems; the construction rules of this model are generalizable to other orthogonal systems.The model is built up from square slabs of four kinds. All possible different cells generated by the slabs are obtained and the cells are put together totally filling the space in a compact way. Because of the importance of building systems which have only a few kind of elements or connecting parts, consideration is restricted to cell systems with only one kind of slab.