Looking Back
Mogharnas / Muqarnas are a traditional decorative Islamic space-enclosing system. They were first found in Islamic architecture a thousand years ago. Professor Shiro Takahashi has provided a comprehensive accounting of existing structure with muqarnas at his site Muqarnas : A Three-Dimentional Decoration of Islam Architecture.
Looking Forward
I have developed a space-enclosing system with muqarnas that are strictly defined geometrically. The simplest and strictest definition of muqarnas turns out to have the greatest flexibility and formal potential. My work provides a window into the outstanding versatility of form offered by muqarnas.
Motifs provide a means of expanding specific forms. Forms describe the type of space-enclosures which characterize a form family.
