Despite not being found in nature, right angles are the most used by architects. In the search for more functionality and practicality in construction, squares and rectangles emerge as the main option when designing. On the other hand, several vernacular and ancestral architectures adopted arches and circular plans as a solution. The game of geometric shapes in the architectural composition is vast, but we cannot forget a polygon that also stands out: the hexagon.
When seen in the plan, the hexagon forms a six-sided figure. If it is regular, it will have all sides of the same length connected by an angle of 120°. Its shape draws attention to how it can bring some functionality to the lines that appear with right angles and also for the break in hierarchy seen in more circular architectures. Furthermore, when carried out in modules, it presents a significant structural contribution - as seen in beehives - and creates a distinct rhythm in space. Therefore, its geometry is used in several projects, ranging from housing to schools, demonstrating that it can be a great option not only in the plan but also to create ruptures in space. Below, we have selected nine projects that highlight its use.
Housing
AD Classics: Kubuswoningen / Piet Blom
"Wanting to avoid a dominating intervention, he told his client that he would design it “so that you cannot tell that it has been designed by one architect.” This objective led Blom to divide the housing development into three distinct projects: Blaaktoren, a 13-story hexagonal apartment tower that resembles the shape of a pencil; Spaanse Kade, a complex of terraced buildings that surrounds an inner courtyard; and the Kubuswoningen, a succeeding exploration of cube houses on a larger-scale grid. The municipal council appreciated this, as they believed that Rotterdam needed more than just cubic housing."
Kame House / Kochi Architect’s Studio
"The house has 12 small rooms which has different function divided over two floors. I inserted a hexagonal void at the middle of the house : an atrium with a connection to every room. The result is a dynamic and complex interior that provides the experience of being present in all rooms without losing the possibility of retreating into just one."
AD Classics: The Dymaxion House / Buckminster Fuller
"A central hexagonal pillar supports the entire house. The ground level is free: a circular floor forms an open and covered patio. On the second floor, it is like an expansion of the hexagonal pillar shape. Trapezoidal and rhomboidal environments emerge. The entire building configuration arises from an equilateral triangle module."
Cultural Facilities
Orquideorama / Plan B Architects + JPRCR Architects
"The microscale of the organic, such as its capacity to be organized in precise laws of geometry patterns (Direct example: Honeycomb structure), allows us to build a single module (we call it Flower - tree, which mean a flower form figure with the size and properties of a tree), that when it becomes systematically repeated, it allows us to define growing properties, its evolution and its adaptability. Its geometry."
The Swan Science Museum / Rurban Studio
"Two overlapping systems, an equilateral grid and a hexagonal grid, compose the interior space. The hexagonal grid defines partitions for a small enclosed space; the larger equilateral grid freely flows above the open exhibition area. Both structures are exposed above the partial walls, presenting spatial continuity and consistency to the visitors."
Gallery Pavillion / Atelier JQTS
"GALLERY is a about physical experience and haptic sensations. (...) It has a collection of 18 small rooms (identical in size but different in their relations) asking to explore it and discover the labyrinthic path to main room from where one can see the Atlantic Ocean."
Schools
Escola Community Canvas / pk_iNCEPTiON
"It was developed as a single curve wall instead of several small curves that ensured the utilization of space for communal activities too. This origination would also respond to the existing hexagonal classroom providing connectivity and easy in movement. "
Korea National Arboretum Children's Forest School / GEEUMPLUS
"The hexagonal honeycomb structure symbolizes bees that play an important catalyst role in the ecosystem, while at the same time nurturing children's “ecological imagination” through various hexagonal modules."
Colégio Maria Montessori Mazatlán / EPArquitectos + Estudio Macías Peredo
"A 19-module hexagonal plan system built in hollow bricks contains the classrooms that connect to the interior to generate a perimeter porched hallway that promotes thermal isolation and pressurizes air. This porch also serves as a space for circulation and semi-open activities. The connection between modules phases out to generate polyhedric patios that define a small landscape of tiny villas at different heights that search for air and natural light through skylights."
