The Geometry of Our Houses
Probably you live in a rectangular prism, like most apartment buildings. Perhaps the roof of your house is a triangular prism. This may all sound complicated, but geometry is a tool that helps us understand and build the world.
Fontes: www.youtube.com/watch?v=z2Fb0R2EYo4; www.caurn.gov.br/?p=10213
Olga Leiria/Olhar Imagem
Apartment buildings in Guarapuava (PR).
A simple, but very effective building shape is the rectangular prism. Look at the sides of this apartment building: it is made of straight, parallel lines. To build it, we can use the same kind of brick all around, without worrying about curves.
elzauer/Moment Open/Getty Images
Stilt houses in the Amazon River, Manaus (AM).
These stilt houses also have straight lines, but the roofs have a triangular shape when we see them from the front side. They combine a rectangular and a triangular prism in their forms. A shape is a flat image. A form is a 3D representation.
Marcos Amend/Pulsar Imagens
Enawenê-Nawê ocas in Juína (MT).
Ocas are traditional houses built from vegetable material by some indigenous tribes in Brazil. They are commonly shared by several families as collective houses. Their forms vary, but, in this picture, we see a cone.
Gilberto Marques/A2img/Governo do Estado de São Paulo
Housing apartment buildings in Heliópolis (SP).
What if we draw a circle on the ground and build a house from that? We will probably have a cylinder-shaped building like this one. It is not very common in building projects, but this shape brings a modern look.
CYSUN/Shutterstock.com
Aerial view of São Paulo city and Copan building (SP).
Some houses have an unusual shape, like the Copan building (more than 4,000 people live there). Apart from the form, houses are intended to provide us safety, comfort, and a place to share with our family and friends!