Challenge

Build Cupolas & Rotundas

Photo of a black high-gloss geometric glassware bowl in the shape of an octahedral cupola designed by George Sakier for the Fostoria Glass Company cica 1930 on a light beige background with the octahedral rim highlighted with reflected light.
Geometric glassware bowl in the shape of an octahedral cupola designed by George Sakier for the Fostoria Glass Company cica 1930. From the Brooklyn Museum collection

Build shapes with parallel polygonal faces connected with triangles, squares and/or pentagons.

  • How are cupolas and rotundas defined in geometry? Are they Johnson Solids?
  • How can you calculate the surface area and volume of a Cupola? And a Rotunda?
  • What are cupolas and rotundas in architecture?
  • What are bicupolas and birotundas and how many types are there of each?
  • What is the the Shukhov Rotunda, and the Shukov Tower? What are hyperboloid structures?
  • How can you combine cupolas, rotundas, prisms, antiprisms and pyramids to create original sculptural forms?

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