During the Fall of 2005, the students of Professor Ben Nicholson's Visual Training course at the Illinois Institute of Technology produced approximately 180 identical 1ft cubes composed of Kufic tile patterns. The Kufic pattern represents a catch-all module that can be assembled to compose complicated patterns. Its power lies in its proportion—were it larger or more complex, its adaptability would be compromised, while at the same time a smaller pattern would require too much building-up to develop anything significant. That is, the most convenient and exploitable pattern lies balanced in the middle.

Its root lies in the famous tile studied by the mathematician Sebastian Truchet at the beginning of the 18th century: a black and white square separated at the diagonal into two triangles. A later example was produced in the 1960s by Cyril Stanley Smith, more famous as a metallurgist, as a square with arcs across 2 of its diagonal corners. The Kufic tile represents a thinking process similar to computer languages. Both utilize a binary system of on/off, 1/0, or black/white that can be amassed to develop complicated procedures. The project's module, a square with a diagonal line 1/2 the thickness of a side (see upper right), is a building element of numerous patterns found through numerous regions and eras. Some examples include the spiraling meander on an amulet (20000 BCE), patterns on Scottish stone balls (2000 BCE), and the meander around a Greek amphora (Athens 804, 770 BCE).

For Professor Nicholson's project, a 3rd dimension was added, posing new challenges and possibilities, allowing the pattern to come alive not only visually, but spatially. After assembling the cubes the students transported them to the Durand Art Institue at Lake Forest College where they were displayed as part of a larger exhibit. Throughout the opening night the cubes were rearranged into 3 different configurations, demonstrating their potential for flexibilty and variety, especially within a given space.