Straight lines that form a curve?
The hyperbolic paraboloid—famously echoed in the shape of a Pringle—is a doubly curved surface, simultaneously concave and convex. Imagine a saddle or the twist of a torso. This deceptively complex form is actually made entirely from straight lines. That’s what makes it so captivating: curves born of geometry, not bend.
To explore hypars, I build models from bamboo sushi sticks. I found myself drawn to this strange form: how do straight lines create something that looks—and acts—like a wing?
A 3-sided hyperbolic paraboloid – like the segment of a bat wing – has one edge that curves
Every point on the surface is supported by two crossing lines, which makes the structure remarkably stiff and capable of handling serious loads. Shape becomes strength.
From above, a hypar appears square. From the side, it’s anything but. There’s always movement in the form, always an angle that surprises:
Bamboo is an ideal material for this kind of experiment. It’s light, strong, and readily available, so I’ve been able to prototype large-scale structures by hand—without heavy machinery or steel. It allows me to explore what a hypar can do, and more importantly, what it can suggest.
A hypar I made using 4m bamboo poles – easily liftable by hand
These shapes are everywhere once you start looking: a valley’s sweep, a twisted leaf, the rooflines of vernacular pavilions. The hypar holds tension like a bowstring, yet seems to float. For me, it’s a way to explore structure as emotion—architecture that vibrates with suggestion.
