“A morphological study of the form of nature” by Kawaguchi

A process of recreating some forms of nature, including shells, horns, tusks, claws, and spiral plants, is herein described. The forms of nature based on spirals and ramification are generated not through the use of object data calculated by measurement, but through the use of an algorithmic structure based on the laws of nature. Although there are a myriad of forms to the shapes of nature, they are represented on the basis of one common principle, which can be expressed by means of the same mathematical expressions. The graphic software which is called “GROWTH” (Growth Rationale Object Work THeorem) has now been designed to create these forms automatically. GROWTH incorporates the rational, common principle of geometrical series which are found in the structute of biological objects.

1. Eiichi Izuhara, “A Unified Model for Generative Process of Plants,” Bulletin of the Japanese Society for the Science of Design, September, 1978
2. Yoichiro Kawaguchi, “Spiral Structure in Image Composition,” Bulletin of the Japanese Society for the Science of Design, September, 1978
3. D’Arcy W. Thompson, On Growth and Form I, II Cambridge University Press, 1968