People jumping, edited photo by Val Vesa on Unsplash

Philip Steadman

Project Researcher

University College London

Philip Steadman is Emeritus Professor of Urban and Built Form Studies at the Bartlett School, University College London, and a Senior Research Associate at the UCL Energy Institute. His main research interests are in the geometry of buildings and cities, and their use of energy. With colleagues he is currently building a 3D model of the UK building stock, for use in energy analysis.

He has published three books on geometry and architecture: The Geometry of Environment (with Lionel March, 1971), Architectural Morphology (1983) and Why Are Most Buildings Rectangular? (2017). His study of The Evolution of Designs: Biological Analogy in Architecture and the Applied Arts appeared in 1979 and was republished in 2008. Vermeer’s Camera, his investigation of the Dutch painter’s use of optical aids, came out in 2001. In 2014 he published a book about building types, considered from both historical and geometrical points of view, with the title Building Types and Built Forms. He is currently working on Renaissance Fun: The Machines Behind the Scenes (2020?).

Buildings & Energy

Publications

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