My modeling approach was to search the Internet for inspiration, eventually deciding to imitate the Socotra dragon tree but modulating the similarities based on my technical capabilities with Revit and Dynamo. I started with the overhead cover that would provide shelter from the sun and rain, initially wanted to create a dome but transitioning to a curved rectangular surface once it became apparent that constructing an elliptical surface from adaptive panels was beyond my current skillset. I then worked my way down the structure to model the connective tubes and main support. From the beginning I embedded parametric flexibility into my Dynamo code as it was a requirement I knew I'd have to satisfy as a 4-unit student. Once my structure was complete I modified the appearance of the overhead cover by shaping it like a sine wave and making a checkerboard pattern with the panel heights.
All elements of my design can be parametrically flexed, from the height and widths (both top and bottom) of the main support to the number of tubes on the support to the expanse of the overhead cover to the amplitude of the curves in the structure. This allows the structure to serve any purpose; the support can be made relatively short and the cover rectangular and wide to serve as a bus stop shelter, or the support can be made extremely tall and the cover square and massive to serve as a stage shelter. The structure could even be replicated and multiple copies placed in sequence to shelter a greater area. As I mentioned, the design was originally modeled after the Socotra dragon tree but ultimately more closely resembled a palm tree as the structure evolved throughout the design process. The checkerboard pattern in the cover was done with panel heights rather than panel openings given that the structure is intended to provide shelter and thus couldn't have openings in its cover. Tubes from the main support to the rectangular cover are mapped to valleys in the cover's sine wave shape, and more tubes can be added by increasing the wave's frequency or increasing the number of rows of panels in the cover (determined by the number of horizontal controlling lines in the cover). Any radius or size in the structure can be modified. The spatial arrangement of elements in the structure are determined relative to each other, so resizing any component will cause the whole structure to dynamically respond. Please play around with the Dynamo and Revit files to explore.