Computational design in the medieval seljuk art: Learning from the hands-on creative traditions of geometric patterns

Historical examples of design production provide valuable references for non-digital calculations past. Departing from a fundamental idea that historical design processes can initiate new insights and knowledge to the design computation field, this research investigates the hands-on creative traditions of the medieval Seljuk artisan. Seljuk art encompasses the renowned visual tradition of the medieval Islamic art that is commonly cited for the geometric patterns that consist of polygons, stars and lines. The lace-like manifestation and geometrical rules beneath the patterns gained a huge attention, especially by mathematicians. Many authors have attempted to decipher the complicated geometrical principles of setting out the pattern designs. Yet, such studies generally approach patterns as end products and do not deliberate upon the design processes. The design process, in contrast, embraces an embodied knowledge that relate to material and making that impinge on design decisions. Throughout the study, due attention is given to material processes of how these designs are constructed as they are not mere form exercises from a design point of view. Artisans working under the patronage of Seljuks in Anatolia incorporated geometrical patterns to their buildings. Hence, the making of the geometrical patterns do not merely depend on visual transformations, but rather relate to the spatial qualities of the space and the architectural form. The builders and artisans of the time and region approached their tasks in a holistic manner, understanding the relations between shapes in two and three-dimensions, and across different scales. The investigations in the thesis revolve mainly on a certain medieval master builder named Muhammad al-Tusi, who owned a ceramic atelier in Konya, a central city in modern Turkey. The craftsmen working in this atelier were using a particular material, namely tile-mosaic through which they materialized geometrical patterns in tremendous diversity. This material appeared first at that time in thirteenth century Anatolia and Tusi's principal undertaking was to transfer the existing geometric pallet to this new material. The sophistication of the holistic and consistent undertaking in designing the form of the building as well as in the application of a geometry of polygons and three-dimensional forms in the tradition of the Tusi Atelier provides an insight to the design knowledge, method and thinking available at that time and in that place. The investigations establish that creative design decisions cannot merely explained with visual transformations. Craftsmanship relies on continuous involvement and the potentials provided by the new material and the knowledge gained from the hand and the eye shapes the designs. The design decisions that arise during medieval artisans' processes are still relevant from a contemporary viewpoint. Today, the inflexibility in the ways that design processes integrate technology contrasts the Seljuk artisans' interest in forming novel geometric patterns that take spatial relations into account as well. Current computational design approaches make generally use of predetermined representations that are embedded in computer-based design tools. Conversely, medieval builder's analog computations that involve the geometrical pattern adaptation to a wide variety of geometrical forms and architectural surfaces plays into creativity in much more flexible ways than those usually attributed in technology. Nonetheless, that does not mean that rule-based approaches cannot aid design processes in more suitable ways. Tusi's designs confirm that initial rules can be applied in different ways, can be comparative tools to understand what repeats and what changes in design. Although the word rule comes into conflict with creative processes to some extent, rule-based systems can operate as inventive thinking tools in design. In reflective analysis, rules benefit the designer as live documentation of possibly infinite yet interconnected alternatives of manifestations and rule-based approach to design holds potential in talking about design creatively and, with awareness. Computational design theories that use abstractions instead of deterministic ways develop formal ways that hold potentials to aid creative processes in appropriate ways. The dissertation encourages designers to use computational tools and methods. Yet, designers should not serve as the passive witnesses to the development of computational tools, rather they should search for ways to expand existing implementations by active participation.