The Faculty of Architecture at Rovira i Virgili University is pleased to present an educational activity called Emod, inspired by Master Leonardo Da Vinci.
It is known that Da Vinci wrote most of his personal annotations using specular writing. This simple encryption method is to write on paper in the opposite direction that most people use. Emod, or otherwise called, "Dome" is the name of the activity that we would like to introduce you to below.
The Codex Atlanticus is a twelve-volume bound set of drawings and writings by Leonardo da Vinci, the largest such set. It comprises 1,119 leaves dating from 1478 to 1519, the contents covering a great variety of subjects, from flight to weaponry and to musical instruments and from mathematics to botany. This codex was gathered in the late 16th century by the sculptor Pompeo Leoni, who dismembered some of Leonardo’s notebooks in its formation.
Its sketches and drawings have inspired our activity called “emod”. Namely, in pages 899v and 889r we can find the design of two different domes with one kind of piece and two geometric patterns. These types of self-supporting structures made up of three or more pieces are called “reciprocal frame.”
Emod is a pedagogical activity, for all ages, developed by researchers from the Rovira i Virgili University's Faculty of Architecture.
This game allows you to build different domes from various
geometric patterns invented by the Master Leonardo Da Vinci about
500 years ago.
It is a multi-disciplinary activity where you can work on some areas
of basic knowledge and competencies such as history, architecture,
geometry, design and technology. Apart from that, other aspects and
skills such as fine psychomotor skills, ingenuity and creativity are
also integrated.
These domes are constructed from a single type of piece and without any joining element. The weight of the pieces itself is enough to keep them stable. Each of the Emod boxes contains 70 pieces of wood to make the different domes.
Each construction occupies approximately one square meter of surface and can be developed simultaneously by more than one person. The magnitude of the domes depends on the number of pieces that compose it; therefore, if a user has more than one Emod box, they can build more.
