Give Me Shelter

Modeling a Parametric Structure

I designed a structure that can be used for farmer’s markets where each vendor is sheltered below the high points of the sine wave roof form, and the columns that support the roof and serve as separation between the vendors are connected at the low points of the roof form. The number of vendor spaces (number of waves), length of vendor space (length of each wave), width of structure, height of columns, and height from the column to high point of roof, are all parameters that can be adjusted. The number of ribs on the roof, which then influences the number of panels, can also be adjusted.

To model this structure, I first created points along the length of the structure (x-axis), and then computed the height of the points (z-axis) with a sine wave function. I used those points to create curves and then translated the curves along the y-axis to create the width of the structure. I then created points for the ribs that span across the width of the roof, and placed adaptive tube elements at those points. I also created points for the tubes that run along the length of the structure, and points for the vertical columns, and placed adaptive tube elements there as well. Next I created points for the panels, where the rib and tube elements intersect, and used those points to place the adaptive panels.

Transforming My Geometry

To transform my geometry, I added parametric flexibility to the outer edges that run along the length of the roof structure. I used a sine wave function to compute the y-coordinates of these points, where the number of waves and amplitude can be adjusted. When the number of waves is the same as the number of vendor spaces, the structure will look similar to the one pictured above, however when the number of waves is different than the number of vendor spaces, the structure will take a different shape, one of which is pictured below.

I limited the amplitude of the wave so that the roof does not extend too far away from the supporting columns and cause potential structural failure. When the amplitude is set to 0, the structure will return to the shape of it’s original form. When the amplitude is negative, the roof cuts in beyond the originally specified width of the structure and the model breaks down. However, when the number of waves is negative, the extension of the structure at the high points and low points of the roof are just reversed from if they were a positive number of waves, and the model still functions.

Negative amplitude:

Negative number of waves: