Modeling a Baldequin
It is Baldequin (or Baldachin) in English, Baldeken, or Baldöken in Turkish. I don’t know which one is correct, but it is the name of a structural system of arches and pendentives that carry a dome. Sinan experimented with square, hexagonal, and octagonal variations in his mosque designs (as I developed parametric definitions of them in my 2003 master thesis (here)). Today, together with students we’ve modeled the system and tried to generate some variations by manipulating its parameters. Below is the starting point for modeling a square-plan Baldequin system. We utilized boolean operations to achieve desired pendentives. It is possible to develop scripts and Grasshopper definitions as an exercise. Maybe I’ll try it later.