Gabriel Lamé1795–1870
Superellipse equation
French mathematician whose generalised ellipse equation became the foundation of the superellipse and many smoothly squared forms.
Column Capital
A circular shaft has to meet a square bay. Nested superellipses are the in-between family: p = 2 is the column, large p is the abacus.
About this shape
Gabriel Lamé, 1818 · Piet Hein
A round column has to land in a square bay. Lamé’s superellipse |x|ᵖ + |y|ᵖ = 1 is the in-between: p = 2 is the shaft, large p is the abacus. Piet Hein put the same family into furniture and plazas. Layers sample the morph; Abacus is how square the outer ring goes. Motion breathes the exponent, so the capital forgets it is a circle and remembers it is a square.
Behind the mathematics
Piet Hein1905–1996
Design application
Danish polymath who popularised the superellipse in design and architecture, showing how mathematics can soften the meeting of circle and rectangle.