In the door/sculptural The Gates of Hell by Rodin, the fragment The Three Shades form a crown for the edifice. The ‘gate’ itself blurs architecture and sculpture, though for this study the more interesting aspect is the identical form of the shades; all three are cast from the same mold, but orientated differently to create a new whole.

This case-study developed out of a deeper look at serialization and repetition as a form-making technique. A curved wall was designed to respond to a grid of columns. The curve is designed so that each side displays a different number of column fragments: first none, then one, two and finally three. The wall is then stacked three more times upwards, each time rotated 90 degrees.

The result is four different 'facades', each appearing as a random composition. A second look reveals the underlying order: each side will reveal a column segment exactly 6 times.

The underlying aim is simulating what appears organic 'wholes' - facades that appear distinct yet are procedurally generated.