Both of us are fond of Chinese architecture and were motivated to rebuild three famous Chinese architectures using the Mathematica formulas we learned in class. The Oriental Pearl Tower is a broadcasting and sightseeing tower located at the side of Lujiazui, Shanghai. This 468 meters tall tower was built in the 1990s. Its unique sphere structures have attracted a lot of tourists. The Temple of Heaven is an imperial sacrificial altar in Beijing. It was founded in the 15th century and is known for its special design of circles and squares. This structure symbolizes the ancient belief that heaven is round and earth is squared. The Broken Bridge is seated on West Lake, a famous lake in Hangzhou. One of the answers to why the bridge is named the “broken” bridge is that when it snows in winter, the snow on the sunny side of the bridge will melt first, creating a view that it’s broken in the middle.
To recreate these magnificent architectures, we first broke up the whole architecture into shapes that we are more familiar with, such as spheres, cones, and cylinders. Then, we used the ParametricPlot3D function to model spheres, cones, and cylinders and used the Graphics 3D function for the triangular prism. After creating all the substructures, we changed the z coordinates for every function to combine the shapes together into one. Besides, we used the “PlotStyle” command to change the colors of the shapes to make them look more similar to their photos.
