Modelling Geometry
Modelling Approach
My shelter is inspired by a combination of two design ideas:
- First, a tent with a flysheet over it that provides insulation and protection from weather elements ⇒ a two-layer shelter to keep rain and ensure ventilation
- Second, a ‘terraced’ green roof ⇒ a wavy top layer of the shelter to better ‘anchor’ strips of plants
The controlling geometry driving the overall form and placement of the components are three curves (semicircles). Instead of using a mathematical equation to derive the curves, I used three points so I could easily control certain dimensions of each curve. I used number sliders to enable the parametric adjustment of 1) height of the shelter at its maximum point, and 2) width of the top green roof layer (which allows us to accommodate different plant types on each layer, e.g. ratio of shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant plants).
To incorporate the wavy green roof design, I created a sine wave delta for each curve definition point on the uppermost curve, with number sliders to control for the wave amplitude and the number of waves.
I then created placement points on each of the three curves for the ribs and panels by dividing the curve into multiple placement points. Following this, I added the adaptive tubes (tapered, 3pt) as the ribs and rectangular seamless panels (4pt) as adaptive panels.
While designing on Dynamo, I used a surface loft function to aid with visualization before doing final design checks on Revit.
Parametric Features
- Maximum height of the shelter (Step 3)
- Width of the shelter’s top layer (Step 3)
- Number of ribs ⇒ level of sinuosity (Step 4)
- Number of adaptive panels on the shelter surface ⇒ size and spacing (Step 4)
- Wave amplitude and number of waves ⇒ level of sinuosity (Step 5)
Overall Thoughts
I had to ensure the two layers did not overlap — otherwise, the ribs and panels would not appear on Revit properly. This necessitated several design considerations: 1) the wave feature (amplitude and number of waves) could not cause the top layer to overlap with the lower layer; 2) too many ribs would crowd out the wave design and result in overlapping of the ribs.