Application of fractals in Interior design: Contemporary Style

Revised 8/7/2019 11:00:00

Harshitha Nama1 and C.H.Srinivas, Srishti Srivastava2

1
JNAFAU University, Hyderabad, Department of Interior design
E-mail address: sai6jan1996@gmail.com

ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the potential of application of fractal geometry in design. It begins with summarizing the
fundamental mathematical principles, and application they had so far in design. The application of these fractals
with help of computational design methodology which is established in 21 st century. Fractals are more than a design
or abstract mathematical problem. They are essential foundation of art and architecture –ma sensibility that can
employ in developing inherently pleasing, elegant and lasting design.

Keywords: Fractals, patterns, interiors, nature, robotic fabrication, 3d printing.

Methodology: The research follows the descriptive

I. INTRODUCTION
Since antiquity artists and philosophers have advised us to
DESIGN FROM NATURE. Across dozens of periods , in
designs for material, structure, form and ornament their advice
has proved sound. But only in last quarter of the 20 th century
have we devised the tools (namely, mathematical computer
modeling). , but that all of these trends were united in the basic
inspiration.
A fractal is a never-ending pattern. Fractals are infinitely
complex patterns that are self-similar across different scales.
They are created by repeating a simple process over and over in
an ongoing feedback loop.
Geometrically, they exist in between our familiar dimensions.
Fractal patterns are extremely familiar, since nature is full of
fractals. For instance: trees, rivers, coastlines, mountains,
clouds, seashells, hurricanes, etc. Abstract fractals – such as the
Mandelbrot Set – can be generated by a computer calculating a
simple equation over and over. Only in the past century have
mathematicians developed an understanding of such common
phenomena as snowflakes, clouds, coastlines, lightning bolts,
rivers, patterns in vegetation, and the trajectory of molecules in
Brownian motion (Dalton Allan- 2010).
This branch of mathematics is known as fractal. Fractals force
us to alter our view of dimensionality, produce patterns from
nearly identical starting positions, and have real world
applications in nature and human creations. Some architectures
and interior designers turn to draw inspiration from the
decorative formations, geometric and
dynamic properties of fractals in their designs which enriched the
field of architecture and interior design, and benefited from them by
adding functional and aesthetic values to design.
Hypotheses: Designing contemporary furniture inspired from
fractals adds functional and aesthetic values to design.
methodology to describe the fractals kinds and properties and
applied methodology in furniture design inspired from fractals.
II. PSYCHOLOGICAL IMPACT OF
FRACTALS ON HUMAN MIND:
It is very important to code the correct Word Style for each
paragraph, Fractal visuals influence human beings during the
performance of stressful mental work.
Beneficial, restorative environments dampen the inevitable
rise in physiological stress while performing a necessary task
requiring concentration. The opposite, those environments that
actually boost the stress levels of normal mental concentration,
should be considered harmful to our health in the long term.
Despite the voluminous literature on learning and workplace
environments, the effect of fractal scenes on reducing stress has
not yet assumed the central importance it deserves. instead, we
continue to see the same stress-raising environments reproduced
in new offices, work environments, and schools of all types.
Apologists for continuing such typologies insist on a largely
mythical industrial efficiency, stylistic “honesty”,
We could, on the other hand, use recent scientific results such
as the work reported here to drastically re-design learning and
working environments. There exist sufficient preliminary results
to do this. It is surprising from a scientific point of view, but
expected, considering the inertia of the design establishment,
that direct research on how people are affected by the fractal
qualities of their environment is still only of marginal interest.
One would think that this ought to be a central topic for
investigation, to which society should devote major effort and
funding. Too much of what is taken for granted, but which is
shown to be wrong by experiments, relies upon personal
opinion. But when individuals are asked what they like, they
invariably give back what they are taught as the prevailing
opinion, thus perpetuating opinions that obscure facts. It is time
 for us to correct this deficit of information on the design of the
built environment.
III. FRACTALS APPLICATIONS
The designers had begun copying natural fractals for
inspiration to build successful devices. Below there are just a
few examples of fractals being used in architecture, interior
design and furniture.
3.1 Fractals Applications in Architecture:
Fractal geometry may help us to understand and analyze
complexity that can be found in towns of the Middle Ages but
also in cathedrals and other man-made objects up to these days.
It may also help us to transfer this complexity, which also arises
from the development over time, to newly planned cities and
buildings – cities and buildings may then also be reduced to
simpler algorithms (Wolfgang E. Lorenz – 2003)
3.2 Fractals Applications in interior design:
Interior designers used fractals shapes to decorate and design
interior spaces to benefit from their formation values and
properties of fractals in design and add functional and aesthetic
values to design.
3.3 Fractals Applications in furniture:
Furniture designers design their products using fractals shapes
to benefit from their formation values and properties of fractals
in design and to add functional and aesthetic values to design
3.4 Reconsidering today’s interiors:
In commenting on the foundation of his own nature oriented
architecture of biorelsm in the 1950. Richard neutra observed
that “no one laments the monotony of a tree”. He , in fact
insisted on the views from this interiors to trees, clouds and
horizontal lines. Subsequent scientific studies have proved him
correct about both the human and health and psychological
benefits of such design practices. Views of trees and natural
landscapes positively influences recovery from surgery,
productivity of the office work and even rates of low prisoners
recidivism.
But compare for the movement the fractal order of nature
with the environment of a typical modern office building or
setting. If natural multi fractal environments represent our
species’ historical biological experience – the context that
people encountered nearly everywhere until just a hundred or so
years ago – then there is little doubt that the monotonous
homogeny today’s “ cube farm” office environments represents
both radial departure and a very real shock to our system.
It is as if with the introduction of the digital age, we have put
the whole focus on the display screen before us rather than the
work habitat tat supports and sustains the use of such
technology.
We ignore our natural environment heritage at our own social
and psylogogical peril. In work places around the world, studies
have shown that human health and function are comprised by
 prolonged immersions in visually monotonous environments
conversely, the green and sustainable building movements have
repeatedly demonstrated that human health and performance are
enhanced by environmentally conscious building.
But, why should buildings that are good for he planet be good
or people? Because they reproduce, either literally or
analogously, the right combination of environmental qualities
(like day light, views, temperature gradients, textures, patterns
and colors) that are biologically crucial to our ancestors survival
Green building are good for people when, by intent or
accident, they reproduce positive environmental conditions to
which we are genetically preselected. And each of us here today
has an un broken line of at least 1,00,000 generations of
ancestors who spent most of their life's in the natural world.
While no guaranteed to do so, so many ecological design
strategies incidentally produce the kinds of fractal orderings our
psyches were evolutionarily meant to engage
3.5 Fractals in future interior designs:
All these examples (and many others) show that throughout
human history, fractals have been revered, replicated and
reproduced in many different ways-in nature as well as in art
and architectural and interiors. In 21st century, we have both this
newly recognized history plus the computational tools necessary
to pursue further applications of fractal design. Where might
these lead, and what might they provide?
In fashion design, Danielle gaine’s company aves , Inc. has
directly incorporated the visualization of abstract fractal
mathematics info women’s active wear. These type patterns are
produced by the solutions sets to equation involving imaginary
numbers, and so are not very “natural” in appearance. Such
patterns are highly distinctive and may come into periodic
fashion like the tie-dyes of 1970 but are likely to remain a niche
use of fractals for interiors.
This practice of combining fractals and artistic judgment into
surface covering like wall papers, carpets, panel fabrics, and
surface finishes is likely to become a preferred way of
incorporating fractals into products, in part because it connotes
the naturalistic imaginary generated in worldwide movement
toward sustainable design.
History has already shown, however, tat fractal expressions
need not be sheer reproductions of natural forms , and
particularly once some algorithmic tools are assembled, it is a
more select and deliberate development of fractal applications
that likely has the most promise.
This is because recent studies in experimental psychology
have shown that fractal structures seemingly provide the basis
for much of our early sensory information processing, and even
actively engage certain processes of short term memory. Fractal
textures also determine perceived complexity in scenes of high
visual depth, preserve our discrimination of surface slant, and
give us a better estimation of visual depth. And we seem
particularly attuned to differences in the fractal dimensions of
both visual and aural compositions. So fractal design
manipulation provide a means of influencing human sensory
perception at an early and effective stage.
History has already shown, however, tat fractal expressions
need not be sheer reproductions of natural forms , and
particularly once some algorithmic tools are assembled, it is a
more select and deliberate development of fractal applications
that likely has the most promise.
IV. FRACTALS IN DESIGN WITH MICHELE
ALFANO:
Michaele alfano have always found Fractals fascinating. They
hold the secret on how our universe is designed. She studied
how self-similar patterns formed from complex equations repeat
itself at different scales from the microscopic to the cosmic. Her
gravitate towards a repetitive geometric design and it is this
kind of work that grabs attention and architectural eye.
A new way of making interlocking textiles was realized in the
the fractal nature of a snowflake in one of Victoria Secret’s
Fashion shows. Victoria Secret and Swarovski went to
Architect Bradley Rothenberg with 3D printing Specialist Shape
ways to create the Snow Queen’s fractal snowflake-inspired
corset. Fractal’s seemed to have a lot of potential because the
same geometry could repeat & interlock with itself, while
changing scale creating a textile that could have different
performance characteristics throughout. The end result was a
textile that grew out of an organization of small textile-like
snowflakes to larger structural snowflakes. The 3D printed
lingerie was made out of nylon and coated with thousands of
gorgeous light catching Swarovski crystals.
Pratt’s team concept “Transcending Darkness” used an uplifting
light sculpture of numerous hanging individual triangles. Each
triangle represents the 36.9 million people who are living with
HIV today. The mirrored reflection multiplied the density of the
light formation. The density of triangles disappearing
represented the hope that the virus will decrease and eventually
disappear. Quite powerful in person
 V. CONCLUSION

The realization that the biologically preferred natural

environment for humans is one that exhibits particular levels of
fractal orders is now rewriting our interpretations of many
interiors studies that previously investigated design effects on
human preferences, performance and well being. The arguable
intrinsic value of window views onto natural landscapes now
becomes reasonable in terms of access to fractal qualities such
views provide
Some recent proprietary studies on heavily computerized
knowledge workplaces have already shown hoe fractal interior
designs can improve visual search and information recall,
reduce stress, and maintain personal energy levels. While
preliminary, they strongly suggest that interior design with the
tight fractal composition can significantly affect our emotional
well-being and cognitive performance
Interior design aims for such goals already, of course, but it
hasn't had a universal theory upon which to interpret and
integrate efforts of individual designers. Successes have too
often been assigned to personal styles rather than to the
underlying natural commonality such styles express. But
scientific explorations in fractal design are now providing the
foundations for such a theory. They continue to show that “by
nature design” we will be able to give ourselves what we still
apparently need the most, especially as we face the challenge of
the building a high technology civilization that nonetheless
retain the best of what has brought us so far.

VI. REFERENCE-
• File:///C:/users/raja/downloads/iconarticle.Pdf
• Fractals in small scale by panaagiotis patlakas
• The fractal nature of every say space- andrew Crompton,
feb 2004
• Fractal, architecture suatainabulity-rinku parashar in 2014
• Fractal in design with michele alfano – website
• Explainwer – what scaling and fractals are, and how
designers can use them
• Reduction of physiological stress using fractal art and
architecture taylor, R. P. Leonardo, volume 39, number 3,
June 2006, pp. 245-251 (article)