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 Review - lovely thoughts by brianjn)

Given this description, I would say that, with a small modification, owl's approach will work.

Instead of oval cards, we can use oval loops (maybe cut out the centers of the oval cards, leaving only the rims. We then have three pairs of loops each crossed at a different axis so that when looked at from any plain we see 2 of the sets as circles (all overlapped so they appear as one circle), and one set as an X. This way, there are no lines of surface intersection, since the surfaces are missing.

Now, as to how to make this with playdough, I'm stumped. I don't think oval loops of playdough would stand up for very long. Stiff paper (e.g. cards) or wire would be a better medium, and brass would be lovely. So this may still not be what brianjn is looking for.

 

Posted by SteveH on 2004-10-31 11:51:00