What's the point of corners?

[Munty]

I'm mid-housework and these things are starting to really get on my nerves... Everything about them is completely pointless and they make all sorts of things that much harder just by their simple existence! Here are highlighted some of the many occasions in which corners can prove frustrating...

1 - Washing Up
The task that led me to the above conclusion takes priority at the top of the list... Why when we have fingers with a minimum thickness of about 10mm do we buy crockery and glassware with corners? The most frustrating item in my kitchen is this stupid glass >
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTaARQ8b_ZqU9mCGuXdWqEBBrQEk_IOg lgjuhHT9VV_yIZmEff5tw&t=1
Why put corners in the bottom of a glass that starts out round anyway? And one that is incredibly narrow and moderately tall! I have pretty small hands for a guy but there's no way I'm getting in there! It's not just this glass either, casserole dishes can often be square or rectangular as can many pots and even bowls.

1a - I was going to end the above with the comment 'corners do not belong in the kitchen' but I've decided it's a valid enough point to deserve it's own paragraph! Why do we put corners on kitchen worktops? Who here has ever wanted to put something on a worktop and been unable to find a space for it due to the lack of a corner? You don't put things right on an edge anyway so who in their right mind puts something right on the corner?! The answer? Noone! So why put a corner there? I know, it's for me to walk into every time I walk past the damn thing!!! By extension, breakfast bars are EEEEE-VIL! Put a round one in there, no problem, you stick a big marble rectangle in the middle of a room at waist height though and you're asking for trouble! That's 4 more corners for me to walk into and they've been placed right in the middle of the ideal pathway from one end of the room to the other!!!

2 - Rooms
Why do rooms need corners? It's not even enough that most rooms have 4 corners nowadays. Right now I'm sitting in one end of what was once 2 rooms since knocked through into one. They left an arch though so they added another 8 corners in here... On top of that there is a fireplace which adds a further 4 corners and a reces in which this computer is located which is another 3 corners (don't ask and yes I am counting innies and outies) The total number of corners in this room, counting the stairs but ignoring doorways to neighbouring rooms, is a staggering 20! 12 of those are innies which makes cleaning a nightmare and the remaining 8 just increase the chances of my stubbing a toe on any given day. I've not even counted the fireplace and hearth which is cunningly disguised to blend in with the surrounding carpet. Yeah, nice... So what's wrong with round rooms? Or at least rendering the corners... Give everything a nice gentle curve and take the nasty angles out of the equation! Job done, problem solved!

3 - Driving
Come on, no driver can possibly disagree with this one. Unless we are on a racetrack then corners are simply not necessary. They act as a way to increase fuel consumption and travel time when a nice straight road from A-B would see you getting places MUCH faster! So what's the deal with all the junctions, corners and crossroads everywhere? Especially in town centres! Why can't all junctions be composed of continually moving sliproads like motorways do? No stopping and waiting, no unnecessary gear-changes and a much faster more pleasant driving experience. Road-rage and traffic will be a thing of the past while the government saves money on obsolete traffic lights and the environment benefits from decreased oil consumption and pollution!

4 - Decorating
This one kind of goes hand in hand with rooms which is primarily a dig at how hard cleaning is made by corners. Decorating can be a host of different things though, from simple painting to more complex renovation and DIY tasks. While I say simple painting of course this isn't true or why post the thread? Painting in corners is fine until you reach a point at which you need to change colours. Masking tape is great but only if it's good masking tape, otherwise you get that little splotchy line underneath it after removal... How mcuh easier would it be if we had no corners to denote where the colour should change? No hassle with masking tape and a free reign on decorating! Moving to DIY we have all sorts of issues, coving and skirting being highest on the list. A moderately difficult task for the standard DIYer how much simpler could 'trimming' your rooms be if there were no corners? Well very much more as it wouldn't need trimming! If you were insistent on breaking up the room then you can now do so without having to cut all those 45o angles for each corner you come to. Just use something nice and flexible for a 10 minute job in even the largest of rooms! Simples... Don't even get me started on corner items... Shelves, baths and showers can all be fitted on straight areas of wall so why go to the extra trouble of fitting them in the corners? I'll tell you why, because corners SUCK! Filling them up with junk like pointlessly small cupboards is currently one of the only ways to get rid of them!

5 - Soldering grrrrr...
This is based on another of today's personal experiences. I'm partway through building a fairly small model from thin sheet metal and the solder is simply refusing to join anything to anything without leaving a mess behind it equal to a V2 rocket... It goes to one side of the join, it goes to the other side of the join, what's wrong with the middle of the poxy thing! Stupid solder has a mind of it's own, it's like taking a dog to the vet of it's own accord. It want's to go everywhere but where you lead it! The problem is highlighted by several absolutely perfect joins which look like they've been done by someone else so I really don't understand what's making the big difference!

Feel free to add to the list, I'm all cornered out for now but there are plenty more! Also do feel free to attempt to argue the side of the corner as it is unable to do so itself, you know I'm right though :p

[xr4man]

don't forget that corners and angles are a pathway for the hounds of tindalos to come through.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hounds_of_Tindalos

[x88x]

Simple answer? They're easy and an efficient use of space. Well, as for as architecture and roads go at least. Plus, as far as architecture/rooms/etc go, most of the things that we humans make are rectangular, and rectangles fit nicely in corners.

The roads matter is actually interesting though (I think)..well, as far as highways anyway. Back when they were first building the national highway network in the US, they originally made most of the roads straight from point A to point B. You'll still see a lot of this out in the mid-west. The problem they ran into was that going in a straight line for a long time messed with peoples' heads; made them fall asleep or just not pay attention to the road anymore. That's why you'll see a lot of highways now curve around for no apparent reason; it keeps the drivers alert. As for in-town roads, it's a simple matter of economics. Having onramps and overpasses and whatnot for every intersection would take up massive amounts of space, cost many, many times more, and take much longer and much more resources to build than traditional intersections. Traffic circles are a nice compromise, but they're not really a good fit everywhere. Oh, and I love a twisty little back road. :D They're just so much fun!

[NightrainSrt4]

It is easier to join two planes (say drywall)together at a corner, than to make it a curve. You also gain more interior sq. feet by having a corner vs. a rounded edge.

For tables, counters, it is easier to make two straight cuts, than to make two straight cuts and then round the corner.

For towns, to make a straight line from A to B for every A and B in the set of locations isn't feasible. You can see an example of this in network topology and it's various layouts.

Now, the cup. I give you that one. It makes no sense, but things like cups are small cheap things people buy. In these cases, people are often driven to the form. Hence the funky shapes, as they are appealing. You simple bought, or were given etc., the wrong cup.

[Airbozo]

...

Now, the cup. I give you that one. It makes no sense, but things like cups are small cheap things people buy. In these cases, people are often driven to the form. Hence the funky shapes, as they are appealing. You simple bought, or were given etc., the wrong cup.

Plus round bottom glasses don't tend to stay upright....

[Oneslowz28]

They make these nice foam drinking glass cleaners that would make that a lot easier. They sell them at Walmart for like $2. They also make things called sponges for like $1 for 10!

I agree with x88x and Nighttrain, without corners the price of your home would be increased by 10-15%. I worked on a foundation where we had to do rounded corners on the front and rear porches and those 4 corners cost about as much as the whole foundation if square would have.

[dr.walrus]

http://www.monolithic.com/

[Airbozo]

They make these nice foam drinking glass cleaners that would make that a lot easier. They sell them at Walmart for like $2. They also make things called sponges for like $1 for 10!

I agree with x88x and Nighttrain, without corners the price of your home would be increased by 10-15%. I worked on a foundation where we had to do rounded corners on the front and rear porches and those 4 corners cost about as much as the whole foundation if square would have.

True.

When I was hanging drywall for a living, I did several custom homes with round rooms (one of them was in Craig Colorado, dr.walrus...). While it was fairly easy, it was extremely time consuming. The mudding was the hardest part. Took many coats to get it smooth and round.

[AmEv]

Trying to cut corners in life, I see.

[Munty]

Trying to cut corners in life, I see.

Trying to cut corners out of life more precisely lol

I think I need some backup in here, I'm drastically outnumbered. Who'd have thought there would be builders and decorators here :D

Of course I know corners are the easiest option (and apparently much cheaper than I'd realised sometimes) but that's not the point I'm arguing. I just think life would be nicer without corners. To me, the straight lines in an object can be seen to represent friends or lovers if you will. The point at which they connect to each other determines the quality of that relationship. A nasty sharp, sticky-out, pointy corner is a man who beats his wife for smoking while she breastfeeds the baby and then gets drunk with his mistress. A nice gentle soft curve is a couple who have been honeymooning for the last 50 years and don't understand why couples would want 'time apart'.

That's one way to look at it anyway :p

And 88 I agree, twisty turny roads are great fun but you have to know the road, be able to see who's coming etc. to make good use of it. Hence my road comment said corners belong on a racetrack. Somewhere designed specifically for awesome driving. And remember I'm not necessarily having a dig at these fun curvy roads, just nasty left, right, left roads that weave between fields for no reason despite having been placed before the farms... This is probably more of an English thing as there is a very distinct countryside/built-up areas divide. If you see buildings it's a city, if you see fields it's the country, if you don't see anything you've driven off Dartmoor pier again... Hell in the UK even our urban sprawls aren't that sprawling, I think we make more food than people but tragically we only export food and import more people :(

[mDust]

I think I need some backup in here, I'm drastically outnumbered. Who'd have thought there would be builders and decorators here :D



/nod

People of TBCS, look out your four or more cornered window. How many corners do you see that are natural? That's right, 99.62% of the time they're man-made...AKA unnatural...AKA the DEVIL!1 There are very few natural corners that exist in the world. Most of the natural ones are caused by erosion and mother nature is slowly working on erasing her mistake by continuing the same process. Man reinvented the corner when he built his first wall. Then, in some fit of madness, decided to add 3 more walls that each joined the end of another. It was a four cornered room. (Mind you that 'cleaning' hadn't been invented yet otherwise this would never have happened.) As if that weren't enough, he decided to add a roof with more freakin' corners! This ape-man was clearly delusional and irrational. He could have easily made a circle and used the leftover materials to make the roof! It's called efficiency...something that was of higher value back then when foraging and hunting each day was a life or death situation and occupied most of ones' time as opposed to fattening up at your local McDonalds in under a minute today.2 So this crazy ape-man guy, who had enough free time to find the extra materials to make his luxurious corners was just showing off his good fortune for the rest of the cave-dwellers to see and was a pathetic but successful attempt to make all other ape-men envious. It's human nature to greedily want that which your neighbor has, so wasteful, roomy square huts started popping up in clusters forming villages, towns, cities and nations of corners. Safety in numbers, convenience or tribal benefits weren't the main factors causing society to spring forth, no, it was human greed and showboating. Soon corners got so out of control that they just became the norm. It's actually amazing that you noticed this phenomenon, Munty. Most people don't even question corners anymore.:facepalm:
Brothers and sisters, it's not too late! We can change the world for the better! Help me wage bloody war against corners of all types. Together we'll eliminate corners from every...er...corner of the globe. PM me for recruitment details.3
I don't understand the corner rage. I've never liked them. Not only are corners a symptom of "Look At Me Syndrome", but they aren't even pleasing to the eye like curves are. Be it a cigar, house, guitar, woman, or car, curves are just better.

__________________
1. This is a fabricated statistic and there is a 99.89% chance that it is false.4
2. Notice the McDonalds emblem is a pair of arches...not a pair of corners. They know what will bring in and please the masses. You didn't hear this from me.
3. Please don't PM me looking to be recruited for war. When I do take over the world, this will not be how I go about it. Or will it?:think:
4. This is also a fabricated lie but at least it's likely.

[x88x]

Speaking of fast food and corners..kinda...hey, run with me here. :P

Interesting fun fact:
Two fast food restaurants make burgers with square patties:
1) Wendy's
2) White Castle

Why you might ask? Well, interestingly, they came about for two completely different reasons.

Wendy's created their square burger so that their patties would hang out of the buns, creating the illusion that they were larger, even though they used the same amount of beef as the thicker, round burgers their competitors sold.

Is this why White Castle made their burgers round? No, no. Nothing nearly so sneaky as that...you can just cook more burgers in one go if they're square. :P Incidentally, they have the hole in the middle of the pattie because they found that if they put the hole there they didn't have to flip them.

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/qq3/x13931x/the_more_you_know2.jpg
:D

[Munty]

I don't think we have square burgers in the UK :( Next time I go to the takeaway I'll suggest it for a percentage in profits :p


It's actually amazing that you noticed this phenomenon, Munty. Most people don't even question corners anymore.:facepalm:
Brothers and sisters, it's not too late! We can change the world for the better! Help me wage bloody war against corners of all types. Together we'll eliminate corners from every...er...corner of the globe. PM me for recruitment details.3
I don't understand the corner rage. I've never liked them. Not only are corners a symptom of "Look At Me Syndrome", but they aren't even pleasing to the eye like curves are. Be it a cigar, house, guitar, woman, or car, curves are just better.

YAY! Reinforcements have arrived! Good show Dusty, now my argument has practical and historic support (and symbolic too thanks to the golden arches!) What's the US city with that big arch thingy? There's another good one for the casefile. Not only would it be much harder to create that structure with a corner in the middle, it would also be hideously ugly! Look at sports arenas too, not many corners there once you go beyond the field itself.

We can win the war on corners :D

[mDust]

I don't think we have square burgers in the UK :( Next time I go to the takeaway I'll suggest it for a percentage in profits :p



YAY! Reinforcements have arrived! Good show Dusty, now my argument has practical and historic support (and symbolic too thanks to the golden arches!) What's the US city with that big arch thingy? There's another good one for the casefile. Not only would it be much harder to create that structure with a corner in the middle, it would also be hideously ugly! Look at sports arenas too, not many corners there once you go beyond the field itself.

We can win the war on corners :D

St. Louis.

Arches are much stronger than straight edges or corners too. There's no way we can lose!

[x88x]

Ah, but the St. Louis Arch not only has a triangular cross-section, Its surface is also composed of many, many, steel squares. :whistler:

[mDust]

Ah, but the St. Louis Arch not only has a triangular cross-section, Its surface is also composed of many, many, steel squares. :whistler:

Yeah, but we're ignoring that fact.:D You can't tell all that if you're viewing it from a mile away.

[Munty]

Triangles ARE the strongest shape in architecture so it's unavoidable sadly... I'm pretty sure if we put enough effort into producing circular components though they could be produced just as successfully :D Besides, the end result is still a nice curved structure, even if poor technology forced it to be built from unsightly shapes :D

[TheMainMan]

Look at sports arenas too, not many corners there once you go beyond the field itself.

Problem solved, it's called hockey. We still call them corners but they're definitely round.

[dr.walrus]

how about some sort of geodesic dome?

[x88x]

IDK, do obtuse angles count as corners? Because then you'd have hundreds of them. :P

[dr.walrus]

I really like the monolithic domes more - partly for that reason. They're stronger, have a longer life, and frankly, geodesic domes are simply not pretty. The distribution of angles is often quite visually erratic..

[msmrx57]

Triangles ARE the strongest shape in architecture so it's unavoidable sadly...

The strongest Man made shape. A true sphere is the strongest shape.

[x88x]

Triangles ARE the strongest shape in architecture


The strongest Man made shape.

Well, it depends on what you mean by 'strongest'. The arch can actually support the most weight out of any man-made support design.

[Munty]

An arch is only good at taking weight if it's buttressed though surely. I think 90% of the time, strength comes down to finding the best way to dissipate gravity from the highest point down to the ground. Hence why arches are good, the weight is displaced from a high central point to either side of the arch. If you look at cathedrals and the like though they all have to have serious buttressing to keep said walls from ding the splits :D

Arches and buttresses are pretty cool though, generally there are no corners on either of them ;) As far as domes go I think the Geodesic dome is actually quite an attractive structure (despite the corners) Much nicer is the Eden Project in the UK though and that's of hexagonal build so even more corners!!!

Of course the monolithic domes are going to be the best for doing away with corners but it seems to me there'd be more ingenuity required in constructing something 'different' with that structure. Many of the designs I've seen to date are simply domes with doors and windows built onto the sides rather than cut out. If anyone's checked that link from earlier I love the one that's built up slightly underground with stone clad walls. That's beautiful ;)

EDIT : Stupid poxy website. Just looked for the one I mean and can't find it anymore :s There's a pretty funky hobbit hole but it's not the one I meant!

[x88x]

An arch is only good at taking weight if it's buttressed though surely.

Yes and no. It depends on how much weight the arch has to support and how the arch is contructed. The more weight you have to support and the further away from a perfect semicircle you get, the more buttressing you need. The reason you need those massive flying buttresses on huge cathedrals is not because of the arches in the ceiling; it's because you have such tall, straight, walls with no interior supports. A good example of an arch with no buttressing are monolithic domes. A dome is just a special case of an arch.

[msmrx57]

A dome is just a special case of an arch.

Technically it's a hemisphere. :D An arch is a cross-section of a hemisphere. :whistler:

[x88x]

Technically it's a hemisphere. :D An arch is a cross-section of a hemisphere. :whistler:

True in mathematics, but iirc, it's the other way around in architecture. ..no, I have no clue why.. :P Might be because the arch was used first in architecture, then the dome, idk.