School of Geometrıc Patterns Workshop on Decagonal Patterns from Turkey
Place: Istanbul Design Center
Dates: March 13, 2023 (Monday) – March 17, 2023 (Friday)
Course Hours: 10:00 am to 4:00 pm (with tea and lunch breaks)
Level: Intermediate
Language: English
Location: İstanbul Desing Center
Group Size: 30 participants
A laptop is needed with Geometer's Sketchpad software installed.
(Course hours include sightseeing walks as well. The mosques in Istanbul's Fatih district will be visited on foot, for about 3 or 4 hours a day.)
The major goal of the workshop is to learn about traditional geometric designs from Turkey. We will explore various patterns from stone carvings from Seljuk Anatolia, and kundekari designs from mosques of Istanbul. We will discuss their specific features and possible variations of these patterns. We will also show connections between various patterns from different mosques.
Most geometric patterns in Ottoman architecture were rendered using a specific form, the so-called kundekari. We will discuss kundekari art forms and see how it is reflected in the construction of geometric patterns. In this workshop, we will also discuss selected designs from the largest mosque in Istanbul, the Grand Çamlıca Mosque.
This will be a workshop using computer technology – Geometer’s Sketchpad for drawing patterns and Inkscape for adding extra features to our patterns. Information about available versions of GSP can be found at
In this workshop, we will cover the following subjects:
Using Geometer’s Sketchpad to draw geometric patterns
Anatolian Seljuk’s decagonal designs
Kundekari designs with decagonal geometry
Structural designs approach
A selection of patterns from various mosques, including certain designs from the Grand Çamlıca Mosque, Tokyo Mosque, and some designs from the Mevlüt Çiller kundekari workshop in Konya.
Day-by-day schedule
Monday – Introduction to the Geometer’s Sketchpad in pattern design, discussion of tangent decagons method in Seljuk geometric designs,
Tuesday – Selected Seljuk designs,
Wednesday – Specific features of Ottoman kundekari works with examples,
Thursday – Advanced Ottoman designs,
Friday – More advanced designs and the final project with GSP. Developing PPT presentation of students’ projects.
Geometer’s Sketchpad Versions
There are three versions of Geometer’s Sketchpad.
MAC :
Mac version can be downloaded and installed from the website This is complete software—no need for a license number.
Windows :
There are two Windows versions. For this course we will use the one with the proper installation procedure and proper help system. This one can be downloaded from the Here is the license key for it:
The license key will be shared with the participants before the course.
Teacher and Students
Miroslaw Majewski (Prof. Dr) is a former Professor at the New York Institute of Technology. Currently, Professor Emeritus at NYIT. Many years of research in the geometry of art and technology for mathematics. Author of numerous books and publications (many of them related to the geometry of patterns). Designer of many geometric patterns – some are reconstructions of well-known patterns, and some of them are entirely new.
Students: This is an introductory course; anybody interested in drawing geometric patterns can enter it and learn a lot. This course can be useful for high school and university students and mathematics teachers.
Previous Courses
If you want to know more about our geometric patterns courses/workshops, you can check out the information at link 1 , link 2 , link 3
