PUBLICATIONS
I am an author that has been publishing in the field of philosophy, and the history and theory of art and architecture since 2012. I completed my dissertation on the work of the Italian Baroque architect Guarino Guarini, entitled "Geometry of the Sun: Guarino Guarini and the Church of San Lorenzo."
For inquiries about publishing, including new commissioned works, publishing works that have not gone to press thus far, please contact: hyperionsun@icloud.com.
ARTICLES
Noé Badillo, "Robert Grosseteste and the Phenomenological Nature of Geometry and Light" in Bishop Robert Grosseteste and Lincoln Cathedral: Tracing Medieval Concepts of Order and Built Form, ed. John Shannon Hendrix, Nicholas Temple and Christian Frost (Surrey: Ashgate, 2014), 119–134.
The propagation of light into our field of perception is elegantly inscribed by the parameters and delineations of geometry. Light, existent within this perceptual field is defined by way of its temporal projection, and placed within limits confined by its geometrically inscribed behavior. This limited inscription leaves us with an unknown question concerning the purely phenomenological presence of light, light as an illumination of the soul, and of the presence of being. Ultimately, the presence of light must lead us beyond the confines of geometry and into the realm of pure sense, and to phenomenology as a way of creating what Edmund Husserl calls the “science of pure phenomena.” However as phenomenology is a science based on the pure perception of αἰσθήσεως (aisthesis), of that which is purely sensate, a paradox exists between the sensible, and the ineffable quality of light as something which is immaterial and entirely beyond the tactile senses. Thus, we experience an epistemological rift between the quantification of light through geometry and the perception of pure phenomena. This paper attempts to answer a fundamental question posited by Bishop Robert Grosseteste pertaining to his idea of lux spiritualis or “originary light,” about the nature of light beyond the horizon of our perceptual field, and how this apparent rift may lead to a paradigmatic realization.
Noé Badillo, "Architectonic Studies in Language and Geometry" Architecture and Culture 2, 2 (2014): 167–174.
Three works pertaining to language and geometry are presented in this article accompanied by extended descriptions dealing with structural linguistics and the relationship between language, perception and architecture. The author proposes a perceptual interface between phonological and morphological structures in the creation of visual information upon the surface of the retina, suggesting a new way to think about the relationship between language and architecture. Language forms an adherence to the architect within the metaphysical context and within the intricacies of structural linguistics, in which syntax, syllable, phrase and morphemic structure form a parallel understanding of the creativity of language in the creation of architecture.
Noé Badillo, "Ocularium Lucis: Light and Optical Theory in Guarino Guarini's Church of San Lorenzo" (MA Thesis: The University of Arizona), 2012.
Ocularium Lucis: Light and Optical Theory in Guarino Guarini’s Church of San Lorenzo is intended to provide theoretical advancement in the understanding of the work of the Baroque architect Guarino Guarini by employing his Church of San Lorenzo as an example. In Part One an historical account of Guarini’s life and work is presented. In Part Two, Guarini’s methods as an architect are analyzed according to their intersection with the philosophy of science, geometry and astronomy, presented within his many treatises on such subjects. A syllogistic correlation is demonstrated in Guarini’s writings between the study of optics, geometry and architecture, which reveals that the architectonic forms which he creates are configured according to a profound interest in light and opticality. In this manner, Guarini’s Church of San Lorenzo is understood as an instrument of light and a vessel of divine illumination.
Noé Badillo, "Correlativus Geometricum Lucis: The Relation between Geometry and Optical Theory in the Design of Muqarnas Domes" Zaytoon 12 (2012): 3–15.
The intention of this paper is to trace a philosophical correlation between the geometry of muqarnas domes and optical theories present during the Abbasid period. The epistemological origin of the muqarnas dome will be explored through the correlation between geometry and optics in the ninth, tenth and eleventh-century theories of Abu Yusuf al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham. I will trace a coincidence between the study of light in the Islamic world and the muqarnas dome as an artifice through which these optical ideas are realized and embodied. This embodiment is presented in three forms: As a model of the Islamic conception of the universe found in the synthetic study of tarkib, as well as the interpretation of muqarnas through the dynamics of atomism; as an optical/geometrical model based on its hyperbolic shape, which is self-referential to the anatomical structure of the eye; and through a profound interest in sidereal light brought about by aligning the muqarnas dome to the stars through cartography and mathematical astronomy. This remarkable and complex feature of Islamic architecture is presented as a reification of the theories of al-Kindī and al-Haytham, in a manner which creates a coincidence between architecture and cosmos as a vessel of light.
Noé Badillo, "Language Beyond Metaphor: The Structural Symbolism of Borromini's Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza" in The Cultural Role of Architecture: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, ed. Paul Emmons, John Shannon Hendrix and Jane Lomholt (London: Routledge, 2012), 39–46.
The architectonic relationship between language and structure is an aphoristic concept; one in which grammar and vocabulary act as descriptive elements through which an edifice is interpreted. In understanding the nature of the ecclesium, the language of architecture becomes philogenetically rooted in religious scripture. The theological foundations of Sant'Ivo all Sapienza point to a transpositional element that exists between the linguistic structure of scripture and the construction of architectural spaces. Consequently, Francesco Borromini's method of architectonic expression embodies arcane mystical concepts. The interpenetration of such ideas with the church as aedificium is found in the relationship between Borromini's knowledge of craft and design, and the esoteric theories of the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. The hexagrammatic geometry of Sant'Ivo's central design makes theological reference to the Seal of Solomon, while other features make reference to Solomon's Temple, The First Temple of Jerusalem. Within the book of Kings, there is a specific passage that becomes a clue into the symbolic connection of the two architectural structures, brought forth through a kabbalistic interpretations of the Hebrew language known as Gematria. Through an understanding of Gematria, the language of scripture is thought of as something beyond a method of description; it becomes a cosmological framework by which the Solomonic meaning of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza is interpreted.
I am an author that has been publishing in the field of philosophy, and the history and theory of art and architecture since 2012. I completed my dissertation on the work of the Italian Baroque architect Guarino Guarini, entitled "Geometry of the Sun: Guarino Guarini and the Church of San Lorenzo."
For inquiries about publishing, including new commissioned works, publishing works that have not gone to press thus far, please contact: hyperionsun@icloud.com.
ARTICLES
Noé Badillo, "Robert Grosseteste and the Phenomenological Nature of Geometry and Light" in Bishop Robert Grosseteste and Lincoln Cathedral: Tracing Medieval Concepts of Order and Built Form, ed. John Shannon Hendrix, Nicholas Temple and Christian Frost (Surrey: Ashgate, 2014), 119–134.
The propagation of light into our field of perception is elegantly inscribed by the parameters and delineations of geometry. Light, existent within this perceptual field is defined by way of its temporal projection, and placed within limits confined by its geometrically inscribed behavior. This limited inscription leaves us with an unknown question concerning the purely phenomenological presence of light, light as an illumination of the soul, and of the presence of being. Ultimately, the presence of light must lead us beyond the confines of geometry and into the realm of pure sense, and to phenomenology as a way of creating what Edmund Husserl calls the “science of pure phenomena.” However as phenomenology is a science based on the pure perception of αἰσθήσεως (aisthesis), of that which is purely sensate, a paradox exists between the sensible, and the ineffable quality of light as something which is immaterial and entirely beyond the tactile senses. Thus, we experience an epistemological rift between the quantification of light through geometry and the perception of pure phenomena. This paper attempts to answer a fundamental question posited by Bishop Robert Grosseteste pertaining to his idea of lux spiritualis or “originary light,” about the nature of light beyond the horizon of our perceptual field, and how this apparent rift may lead to a paradigmatic realization.
Noé Badillo, "Architectonic Studies in Language and Geometry" Architecture and Culture 2, 2 (2014): 167–174.
Three works pertaining to language and geometry are presented in this article accompanied by extended descriptions dealing with structural linguistics and the relationship between language, perception and architecture. The author proposes a perceptual interface between phonological and morphological structures in the creation of visual information upon the surface of the retina, suggesting a new way to think about the relationship between language and architecture. Language forms an adherence to the architect within the metaphysical context and within the intricacies of structural linguistics, in which syntax, syllable, phrase and morphemic structure form a parallel understanding of the creativity of language in the creation of architecture.
Noé Badillo, "Ocularium Lucis: Light and Optical Theory in Guarino Guarini's Church of San Lorenzo" (MA Thesis: The University of Arizona), 2012.
Ocularium Lucis: Light and Optical Theory in Guarino Guarini’s Church of San Lorenzo is intended to provide theoretical advancement in the understanding of the work of the Baroque architect Guarino Guarini by employing his Church of San Lorenzo as an example. In Part One an historical account of Guarini’s life and work is presented. In Part Two, Guarini’s methods as an architect are analyzed according to their intersection with the philosophy of science, geometry and astronomy, presented within his many treatises on such subjects. A syllogistic correlation is demonstrated in Guarini’s writings between the study of optics, geometry and architecture, which reveals that the architectonic forms which he creates are configured according to a profound interest in light and opticality. In this manner, Guarini’s Church of San Lorenzo is understood as an instrument of light and a vessel of divine illumination.
Noé Badillo, "Correlativus Geometricum Lucis: The Relation between Geometry and Optical Theory in the Design of Muqarnas Domes" Zaytoon 12 (2012): 3–15.
The intention of this paper is to trace a philosophical correlation between the geometry of muqarnas domes and optical theories present during the Abbasid period. The epistemological origin of the muqarnas dome will be explored through the correlation between geometry and optics in the ninth, tenth and eleventh-century theories of Abu Yusuf al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham. I will trace a coincidence between the study of light in the Islamic world and the muqarnas dome as an artifice through which these optical ideas are realized and embodied. This embodiment is presented in three forms: As a model of the Islamic conception of the universe found in the synthetic study of tarkib, as well as the interpretation of muqarnas through the dynamics of atomism; as an optical/geometrical model based on its hyperbolic shape, which is self-referential to the anatomical structure of the eye; and through a profound interest in sidereal light brought about by aligning the muqarnas dome to the stars through cartography and mathematical astronomy. This remarkable and complex feature of Islamic architecture is presented as a reification of the theories of al-Kindī and al-Haytham, in a manner which creates a coincidence between architecture and cosmos as a vessel of light.
Noé Badillo, "Language Beyond Metaphor: The Structural Symbolism of Borromini's Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza" in The Cultural Role of Architecture: Contemporary and Historical Perspectives, ed. Paul Emmons, John Shannon Hendrix and Jane Lomholt (London: Routledge, 2012), 39–46.
The architectonic relationship between language and structure is an aphoristic concept; one in which grammar and vocabulary act as descriptive elements through which an edifice is interpreted. In understanding the nature of the ecclesium, the language of architecture becomes philogenetically rooted in religious scripture. The theological foundations of Sant'Ivo all Sapienza point to a transpositional element that exists between the linguistic structure of scripture and the construction of architectural spaces. Consequently, Francesco Borromini's method of architectonic expression embodies arcane mystical concepts. The interpenetration of such ideas with the church as aedificium is found in the relationship between Borromini's knowledge of craft and design, and the esoteric theories of the Jesuit scholar Athanasius Kircher. The hexagrammatic geometry of Sant'Ivo's central design makes theological reference to the Seal of Solomon, while other features make reference to Solomon's Temple, The First Temple of Jerusalem. Within the book of Kings, there is a specific passage that becomes a clue into the symbolic connection of the two architectural structures, brought forth through a kabbalistic interpretations of the Hebrew language known as Gematria. Through an understanding of Gematria, the language of scripture is thought of as something beyond a method of description; it becomes a cosmological framework by which the Solomonic meaning of Sant'Ivo alla Sapienza is interpreted.