Monday, August 27, 2018
Piaget fail
Now that courseware is momentarily under control again, I'm returning to the Box Depots. Found the cutest and coziest depot of all, this little octagon:
Note the stovepipe. Judging by the window, I'd guess each side of the octagon is 5 feet wide.
Hey! There's no way a stove could fit into a 5-foot-wide building! Must be a Tardis!
Wrong. My judgment of area fails the Piaget test for an octagon. I'm thinking square.
Here's a numerical comparison. This stove that I made for the depots is 36 inches wide, and its proportions are fairly realistic. I added a simple square 5 feet on a side and a simple octagon 5 feet on a side. You can compare the measurements behind the stove.
My intuition was right about the square. There's no way the stove could fit in a square of that size. But the octagon holds the stove easily, with room for a table and a couple of chairs. The octagon's OD is about 12 x 12, not 5 x 5.
Even if I misestimated the windows, and the walls are only 4 feet, there's still plenty of room. The OD would be 10 x 10. In other words, it would be about like the room I'm sitting in right now, which is 8 x 9. It contains a computer desk, a folded dining table bearing printers and such, a sewing machine, an armchair, two dining-type chairs, and another small desk for hi-fi stuff. Doesn't feel crowded to me!
... And the little octagon wouldn't have felt crowded to railroaders either. They were accustomed to the tight spaces of cabooses. In fact this is broadly true across the centuries. From tipis to sailing ships to covered wagons to trains to sleeper cabs to space shuttles, people who cover thousands of miles live in tight spaces.
= = = = =
Later: Made the models. As before, my first attempt was too 'house-like', not matching the extreme smallness of the original. On the second try I got there. It's not a copy of the real, but the proportions are right. And sure enough, the stove still fits easily in both sizes. The large one has enough area for all the functions of a regular house. The small one holds a table and chairs and cot, with room to walk around.
And a more refined interior pic of the small version, with front walls ghosted:
Note the stovepipe. Judging by the window, I'd guess each side of the octagon is 5 feet wide.
Hey! There's no way a stove could fit into a 5-foot-wide building! Must be a Tardis!
Wrong. My judgment of area fails the Piaget test for an octagon. I'm thinking square.
Here's a numerical comparison. This stove that I made for the depots is 36 inches wide, and its proportions are fairly realistic. I added a simple square 5 feet on a side and a simple octagon 5 feet on a side. You can compare the measurements behind the stove.
My intuition was right about the square. There's no way the stove could fit in a square of that size. But the octagon holds the stove easily, with room for a table and a couple of chairs. The octagon's OD is about 12 x 12, not 5 x 5.
Even if I misestimated the windows, and the walls are only 4 feet, there's still plenty of room. The OD would be 10 x 10. In other words, it would be about like the room I'm sitting in right now, which is 8 x 9. It contains a computer desk, a folded dining table bearing printers and such, a sewing machine, an armchair, two dining-type chairs, and another small desk for hi-fi stuff. Doesn't feel crowded to me!
... And the little octagon wouldn't have felt crowded to railroaders either. They were accustomed to the tight spaces of cabooses. In fact this is broadly true across the centuries. From tipis to sailing ships to covered wagons to trains to sleeper cabs to space shuttles, people who cover thousands of miles live in tight spaces.
= = = = =
Later: Made the models. As before, my first attempt was too 'house-like', not matching the extreme smallness of the original. On the second try I got there. It's not a copy of the real, but the proportions are right. And sure enough, the stove still fits easily in both sizes. The large one has enough area for all the functions of a regular house. The small one holds a table and chairs and cot, with room to walk around.
And a more refined interior pic of the small version, with front walls ghosted:
Labels: defensible times
¶ 2:35 AM
