An icosidodecahedron is a polyhedron that is part of the family of Archimedean solids. It has 32 faces, consisting of 12 regular pentagonal faces of a dodecahedron and 20 regular triangular faces of an icosahedron. It is highly symmetrical, with the same arrangement of faces around each vertex. In this short tutorial video, I am modeling and unrolling an icosidodecahedron. This polyhedron is very interesting and is mostly used as a basis for more sophisticated designs. Its dual polyhedron is a rhombic triacontahedron, a Catalan solid. I especially love this Catalan solid because of its rhombic appearance. This is why, the icosidodecahedon is a good starting point to create a model of that.

I have been conducting a series of in-class exercises in the freshmen year architectural geometry course, focusing on Euclidean constructions, basic drawing and transformation commands, introductory fractals, regular and semi-regular tessellations, patterns, modeling, and unrolling polyhedra using Rhinoceros software. Junior architects, interior designers, industrial designers, and enthusiasts from other disciplines can benefit from these concise drawing exercises. I will publish exercises every week on my blog and other platforms. So, today’s exercise is modeling and unrolling an icosidodecahedron.

The software used in this course is Rhinoceros 3d (www.rhino3d.com). However, if you want to find out more and see the whole list of this video series, you can check my YouTube channel at www.youtube.com/@designcodingnet and my blog at: www.designcoding.net/. You can also check my Instagram page at www.instagram.com/designcodingnet/. The music of this video is ‘This Too Shall Pass’ by Scott Buckley (CC-BY 4.0). www.scottbuckley.com.au