The animals of architecture: some census results on N-omino populations for N = 6, 7, 8

An <I>N</I>-omino is a planar edge-connected set of <I>N</I> square cells. The terms polyomino (<I>N</I>-omino) and animal are equivalent, the first attributable to Golomb (1954) and the latter to Read (1962). This paper presents some results derived from a census of three different populations of <I>N</I>-ominoes for <nobr><I>N</I> = 6, 7, and 8.</nobr> In all, 512 different polyominoes have been analysed in terms of properties of form which are of architectural interest. In this respect the paper extends our knowledge of the so-called 'animals of architecture' (Frew <I>et al</I>, 1972). The paper concludes with some reflections on the nature of architectural solution spaces and design processes based on the experience of conducting this census, and the potential role of polyomino studies in architectural education.