The discipline of Draughting/Drafting usually has exercises requiring the presentation of 3 elevations of an object; aerial or plan view, front view and side or end view. A standard house brick would be 3 rectangles drawn in relation to its dimensions.

I understand that somewhere through the 1930’s a German architect proposed a drawing for a solid object which many deemed impossible, but I have a lovely brass model that invalidates those claims.

The challenge was: Given one drawing that represents all three elevations - Create the object!

Examples: A square is a cube. A circle represents a sphere but a circle crossed with a ' + ' sign might be a beach ball with circles around its 'x,y,z' circumferences; like an orange cut into 8.

NOW, this object in question is represented by a circle crossed by an 'X' or multiplication sign.

MY CHALLENGE is twofold:
1. What does this object look like? Describe as many of its properties as possible.
2. How might you create it as a demonstration in, say, 2 or 3 minutes? I suggest a firm but pliable medium like children's 'playdough' and a tool like a very simple kitchen utensil would reasonably create an approximation of this solid.

(In reply to Maybe Solution by owl)

Owl, I like this solution, in that it would make a nice looking brass object.

There would be some additional lines, wherever the cards intersected (a line across the middle, and two parralel lines, either across or down) near the outer edge. However, maybe these lines could be "smoothed" out, for example by rounding the intersections with someting maleable (more playdough?). The "X" would then look a little fat in the middle, but would still be an X. As in my possible solution, it somewhat depends on the rules for the drafting exercise.

Posted by SteveH on 2004-10-24 14:39:15