By Zizhou Lyu
Hello! My name is Zizhou Lyu, and I’m a fifth-year architecture student at Syracuse University. This summer, with the support of the Tyler Fellowship, my teammate Beining Xue and I—also a fifth-year architecture student—will embark on a research journey from Syracuse to Spain and Samarkand, Uzbekistan, to explore the geometric soul of Islamic architecture: Muqarnas.
Muqarnas are elaborate three-dimensional vaulting forms found throughout the Islamic world, from the Alhambra in Granada to the Registan in Samarkand. Resembling crystalline stalactites or cascading honeycombs, these structures are more than decorative—they are mathematical, modular, and spiritual. Their recursive geometry embodies core Islamic values: unity through multiplicity, order within infinity, and divine abstraction through form. They represent one of the most breathtaking achievements of Islamic architectural ornamentation.
The ceiling of the entrance of the Agha Bozorg Mosque in Kashan, Iran.
My project, titled The Legacy, Resurgence, and Metamorphosis of Islamic Geometry, focuses on how Muqarnas can be reinterpreted using computational tools and interactive technology. By integrating parametric design, Python scripting, and real-time visual rendering, I aim to create an immersive installation where audiences can manipulate Muqarnas geometries using sound, muscle motion, and manual input. It’s an experiment not just in design, but in participation—a way of letting people touch geometry, and in doing so, engage with centuries of visual and spiritual tradition.
Parametric simulation of Muqarnas in Rhino Grasshopper.
But before diving into software, sensors, and projection surfaces, I’m grounding my work in historical study and field research. That’s why I’ll be traveling to two major centers of Islamic architectural heritage:
• Spain, where Christian builders during and after the Reconquista incorporated Islamic motifs into the Mudéjar and Alhambresque styles, as seen in the Alcázar of Seville and the world-renowned Alhambra of Granada.
Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain
• Samarkand, Uzbekistan—once a thriving hub on the Silk Road and a cradle of Timurid architecture—where Muqarnas reached monumental heights in the turquoise-tiled portals of madrasas like the Ulugh Beg and Sher-Dor.
Gur-e-Amir Mausoleum, Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Asia
These sites tell the story of Islamic geometric ornament not as a fixed tradition, but as an adaptive and migratory language—absorbing, transforming, and transcending cultural boundaries. In Spain, Muqarnas became a Christian adaptation of Islamic form. In Central Asia, Persian, Arab, and Turkic influences merged to create intricate regional variations. These architectural moments demonstrate that ornament is not merely decorative—it is a record of dialogue between civilizations.
What makes Islamic geometry distinct is its rejection of figurative representation in favor of mathematical abstraction. While ancient Greek and Roman art centered the human form, Islamic visual culture focused on the infinite. Circles, stars, polygons, and interlacing patterns reflected a cosmology where God is indivisible, unknowable, and infinite—and where art must echo that divinity not by copying creation, but by constructing logic. This is why Muqarnas are not just pretty vaults. They are visual theorems, articulating space through recursive symmetry and symbolic fractalism.
In the digital age, we are seeing a renewed interest in this language of geometry. Computational design allows us to simulate, animate, and manipulate these historical forms in ways traditional artisans could only imagine. My research seeks to build upon this momentum—but not simply to replicate. As art historian Whitney Davis reminds us, revival is not repetition. It’s reinvention. And I want my Muqarnas to evolve, just as they did from Isfahan to Fez to Xi’an.
To that end, my final project has two components:
- A visual journal documenting my research—from historical diagrams to algorithmic models to site observations from Spain and Samarkand.
Illustration of the ways people grew food during the Siege of Sarajevo, selected from my own portfolio.
- An interactive installation where participants can generate and transform Muqarnas in real time, using a custom-built system of EMG sensors, sound inputs, and LED-embedded acrylic panels. Think of it as digital ornamentation with soul: an evolving projection of light, geometry, and code.
Algorithmic Muqarnas Prototype Design by Michael Hansmeyer.
As I prepare for this journey, I find myself reflecting not only on the technical challenge but on the deeper purpose of this work. What does it mean to preserve a tradition? And how do we do so without freezing it in the past? My belief is that Islamic geometry—precise, symbolic, and deeply humane—is uniquely suited to our digital era. It teaches us that design can be both rational and sacred. That ornament can carry memory. That abstraction can be intimate.
This research will be presented at the 2026 Syracuse School of Architecture Directed Research Exhibition and published in a curated volume led by Professor Fei Wang, whose mentorship has profoundly shaped my thinking. I hope that through this work, I can contribute to the ongoing conversation about the intersection of craft, code, and culture, and what it means to reinterpret heritage in a networked world.
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