In hmolscience, Nikos Salingaros (c. 1949-) is a Australian-born American mathematician and architect noted, in architectural thermodynamics, for his 1997 thermodynamics-in-namesake model of things such as "living buildings", architectural temperature, among others.
Overview
In 1997, Salingaros, in his “Life and Complexity in Architecture from a Thermodynamic Analogy”, wherein he attempted to outline a simple model, using ideas of Christopher Alexander, to estimate certain intrinsic qualities of a building, according to which the architectural temperature T is defined as the degree of detail, curvature, and color in architectural forms. The following is an example quote: [1]
“The connection between biological life and architectural life, as an organization of matter and energy of human actions, arises from thermodynamics.”
Salingaros uses verbalized analogies, unitless thermodynamic variables, e.g. architectural entropy and architectural temperature, chaos theory, and complexity, outlining what he calls the “three laws of architectural order” geared to match building design with emotional comfort and beauty. [1]
Education
Salingaros completed his BS from the University of Miami in 1971 and his MS (1974) and PhD (1978) from the State University of New York, all in physics. [2] He is currently a professor of applied mathematics at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Salingaros also serves as a visiting (or adjunct) professor at Technologio de Monterrey (urbanism), Mexico, University of Delft, Holland (urbanism), and University of Rome III (architecture), Italy.
References
1. (a) Salingaros, Nikos A. (1997). “Life and Complexity in Architecture from a Thermodynamic Analogy.” Physics Essays, Vol. 10, pgs. 165-73.
(b) Salinngaros, Nikos A.. (2007). A Theory of Architecture (ch. 5: Life and Complexity in Architecture from a Thermodynamic Analogy, pgs. 105-28; quote, pg. 127). Contributors: Mehaffy, Michael W., Terry M. (Con.) Mikiten, Debora M. (Con.) Tejada, Hing-Sing Yu. Umbau-Verlag Harald Puschel.
2. Nikos Salingaros - Curriculum Vitae.
Further reading
● Salingaros, Nikos A. (1995). "The Laws of Architecture from a Physicist's Perspective", Physics Essays 8: 638-643.
External links
● Nikos Salingaros – Wikipedia.
● Nikos Salingaros – Nexus Network Journal.
● Nikos A. Salingaros (Homepage) – Zeta.Math.utsa.edu.
