13. Three-dimensional form

13 - 02 Forms

b. PLANAR (OR CONTAINER) FORMS - These arise when width is added to linear forms, and thickness or height is still a minor aspect. Planar forms are composed of long and thin wide shapes that articulate the space. Though mathematically, a plane is a flat surface having two exaggerated dimensions, it may be classified as a planar form. These are seen to articulate space in a manner that they take up the form of containers.

Boxes, wooden crates, bowls, baskets, boats, seed pods and seashells are some of the container forms that we see around us.

c. SOLID (OR CLOSED) FORMS - When space appears to be excluded from the form - when length, width and thickness or height is near equilibrium, a solid form exists. A solid form is defined by the space around it. It maintains its numeric thrust against its environment despite incursions in a few shallow areas. It may exist as a monolithic form, a uniform mass not penetrated by space, or one having convex or concave areas, where the proportion of mass is greater than the space penetrating the form.

d. COMBINATIONS -
i. Linear - Solid: A linear - solid form is classified as one that deals with a degree of contrast in form, and often in the material used.
ii. Planar - Solid: Here, the planar assumes a greater visual role than line did in linear - solid forms.
iii. Linear - Planar - Solid: the most complex and widely used category. Most complex objects, like mechanical objects, belong to this category. When used in sculpture, the three elements must be balanced carefully.

e. PIERCED FORMS - Pierced forms are those that admit space into the center of their mass or are invaded through and through by a hole or holes.

f. MOBILE (OR KINETIC) FORMS - Mobile forms are those which utilize kinetic energy, and become capable of motion. A rotary eggbeater and a dragonfly wing are a few examples of mobile forms.

g. GEOMETRIC FORMS - Derived from geometry, these are completely manmade and artificial forms, having very well defined and sharp edges.

The word 'geometry' provides a clue to its origin and use: geo - land and metry - measure. Traced back to the ancient Egyptians, they used it in the great engineering and building projects of the Pharaohs, and in the priestly art of numbers and astrology. But the ingenious device of the knotted cord (which led to a way of finding a right angle as a component of a right angle triangle, making it possible to calculate nearly all shapes and sizes of arable land) actually evolved from the problem of land measure that arose every year because of the flooding of the Nile Valley, and the Egyptian practice of levying taxes according to the extent of land ownership. In the sixth century B.C, the knotted cord and triangle idea was brought to Greece. Geometry, to the Greeks, was a divine exercise, an absolute and perfect way to create designs applicable in the building of temples, making pottery and statues of gods and heroes, and speculating on the essence of matter or the movements of celestial bodies.

h. ORGANIC FORMS - These forms bear close resemblance to vegetable, animal and human forms and materials. They involve growth and they represent change. They are compact, inward, secretive and they tend to be closed in whole or in part; they resist damage by distributing pressures broadly and evenly. They usually represent mass and weight and therefore displace space rather than accommodate space. They tend to be quite durable, regardless of their material substance.

i. NATURAL FORMS -These are supple and sensitive forms, which tend to merge with the surroundings, rather than stand out and assert their positions. They follow the gentle, free- flowing ways of nature, whereby they neither look predetermined, nor as afterthoughts. They are defined by their gracefully curving, rounded edges.

j. PNEUMATIC FORMS - These are the membranous enclosures created by certain material such as tent cloths and rubber.