What Are Tilings and Tessellations and How Are They Used in Architecture

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 Young Scientists Journal | 2009 | Issue 7
35
What are Tilings and Tessellations and how are they used in Architecture?
Jaspreet Khaira
King Edward VI High School for Girls, Edgbaston, Birmingham. Email: jkkhaira@yahoo.co.uk
 What are Tilings and Tessellations and how are they used in Architecture?
Tilings and tessellations are an important area of mathematics because they can be manipulated for use in art and architecture. One artist in particular, MC Escher, a Dutch artist, incorporated many complex tessellations into his artwork.Tilings and tessellations are used extensively in everyday items, especially in buildings and walls. They are part of an area of mathematics that often appears simple to understand. However, research and investigation show that tilings and tessellations are in fact complex.
 What are Tilings and Tessellations?
 A tessellation is any repeating pattern of symmetrical and interlocking shapes. Therefore tessellations must have no gaps or overlapping spaces. Tessellations are sometimes referred to as “tilings”. Strictly, however, the word tilings refers to a pattern of polygons (shapes with straight sides) only. Tessellations can be formed from regular and irregular polygons, making the patterns they produce yet more interesting. Tessellations of squares, triangles and hexagons are the simplest and are frequently seen in everyday life, for example in chessboards and beehives [Figure 1]. Tessellating other polygons, particularly irregular ones, is more difficult, as discussed later on.
History of Tessellations
The Latin root of the word tessellations is
 tessellare,
which means ‘to pave’ or ‘
tessella
’, which means a small, square stone. Tessellations have been found in many ancient civilizations across the world. They often have specific characteristics depending on where they are from. Tessellations have been traced all the way back to the Sumerian civilizations (around 4000 BC). Tessellations were used by the Greeks, as small quadrilaterals used in games and in making mosaics [Figure 2]. Muslim architecture shows evidence of tessellations and an example of this is the  Alhambra Palace at Granada, in the south of Spain [Figure 4]. The Fatehpur Sikri [Figure 3] also shows tessellations used in architecture.Nowadays tessellations are used in the floors, walls and ceilings of buildings. They are also used in art, designs for clothing, ceramics and stained glass windows.Mauritus Cornelius Escher had no higher knowledge of mathematics, yet he contributed to the mathematics of tessellations significantly. He was the youngest son of a hydraulics engineer and was born in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands in 1898. At high school he was an indifferent student and the only part of school that
Research Article
Figure 1: Tessella
t
ons of hexagons and squares
 
 Young Scientists Journal | 2009 | Issue 7
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interested him was art. After leaving school, Escher briefly studied under an architect before leaving to study ‘decorative arts’. He then began using graphic techniques in his own sketches. Although Escher had no deep knowledge of mathematics his meticulous research into tilings of the plane was extensive and showed thorough mathematical research. In fact he once said,
“Although I am absolutely innocent of training or  knowledge in the exact sciences, I often seem to  have more in common with mathematicians than with  my fellow artists.”
 (
The Graphic Work of MC Escher 
, New York, 1967, p.9). Mathematicians have been fascinated by Escher’s work [Figure 5].The Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain with its ceilings
Figure 2: Mosaic using tessella
t
ons, dining room
oor, Chedworth Roman villaFigure 3: Fatehpur Sikri (palace), India, Tessella
t
ons can be seen on the balconiesFigure 5: Examples of Escher’s workFigure 4: Alhambra palace, Granada
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and walls covered with beautiful ornamentation, sparked Escher’s interest in tessellating patterns. During his lifetime Escher created and designed over 100 tessellated patterns, many of which are still admired today.
 Mathematics Behind Tessellations
Which Shapes can Tessellate and Why
The simplest type of tessellation is formed from regular polygons. Regular tessellations are tessellations that are made up of only one kind of regular polygon.  After some experimentation it can be deduced that equilateral triangles, squares and regular hexagons form regular tessellations. However, pentagons and heptagons cannot do this without leaving gaps or producing overlaps. In order for a shape to tessellate, the interior angles must fill all of the space around a vertex (i.e., their angles must add up to 360°). It is therefore important for us to work out the interior angles of a shape. In order to do this we must know that the exterior angles of any polygon will add up to 360°. From this we can deduce the interior angles of the polygon and check to see if they are factors of 360. If they are, we know that they will completely fill the space around a point, called a vertex. A vertex is the point at which adjacent sides of polygons meet. If this space is filled, the shape will tessellate. An algebraic formula summarizes this. The formula to work out the interior angle of a regular polygon is:
  a = 180 - 360/n,
where a is the interior angle of the polygon and n is the number of sides of the polygon. This is because 360 divided by the number of sides of the polygon gives the exterior angle, and when the exterior angle is subtracted from 180, we get the interior angle of the polygon.To determine how many polygons are needed to fill the space around a vertex and allow the polygon to tessellate, another formula is used:
 k(n)= 360/a = 2n/ (n-2),
where k(n) is the number of polygons needed.Therefore, it can be deduced that regular polygons that can fill the space around a vertex can tessellate. In more mathematical terms, regular polygons with interior angles that are a factor of 360, can tessellate. Because of this, only regular polygons with 3, 4 or 6 sides – equilateral triangles, squares and regular hexagons – can perfectly fill 360° and tessellate by themselves.
Symmetry and Transformations
Symmetry is the process of taking a shape and through certain movements, matching it exactly to another shape. A tessellation is created through this, by repeating the same motion a number of times. For example, the straight section of a railway line forms a tessellation as it uses the simplest type of symmetry. The same shape is repeated, moving a same fixed distance in the same fixed direction each time a movement is made.
Triangle – The three exterior angles mustadd to make 360°. Therefore each onemust be (360/3) 120°. The interior angles are (180-120) 60°.60 is a factor of 360 and so theequilateral triangle will tessellate.
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Hexagon The six exterior angles must add to make 360°.Therefore each one must be(360/6) 60°. The interior anglesare (180-60) 120°.120 is a factor of 360 and so ahexagon will tessellate.Square The four exterior angles must add to make 360°.Therefore each one must be(360/4) 90°. The interior anglesare (180-90) 90°.90 is a factor of 360 and so asquare will tessellate.
 
Pentagon The five exterior angles must add to make 360°.Therefore each one must be(360/5) 72°. The interior anglesare (180-72) 108°.108 is not a factor of 360 and soa pentagon will not tessellate.
Heptagon The seven exterior angles must add to make 360°.Therefore each one must be(360/7) 51.4°. The interior anglesangles are (180-51.4) 128.6°.128.6 is not a factor of 360 andso a heptagon will not tessellate.
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