Annie Helmes

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Final Model:

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The very first step in my design process for the parametric structure was to brainstorm. I primarily thought about organic shapes that had some sense of curve and flow. The sketches below is what ended up being my compiled list of brainstormed ideas that I initially constructed for this assignment.

As a final decision, I ended up deciding on this triangular curved structure, circled in red. I got my inspiration for this structure from the wavy roofs of my all-time favorite structure, the Sydney Opera House. You can see how my final design sort of mimics one of the triangular waves of the roof of the Opera House (pictured below).

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The next step in my design process was understanding my controlling geometry, as well as what adaptive components I will be using in this assignment. My controlling geometry ended up being 2 curves. Curve #1 is based on 3 points and Curve #2 is based on 2 points. For the adaptive components, initially I was unsure which elements I wanted but I thought having some sort of tubing with paneling would create a unique structure.

After the planning, I moved to Dynamo to actually set up the controlling geometry and the parameters that can be changed. The changing parameters include the radius of the structure, peak height of the triangular point, and the depth of the structure. I created the controlling points and curves to guide what my structure would look like.

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Next, I used the SurfaceByLoft Node to combine the controlling geometry into a surface. I also used a UV Grid to place what I refer to as “Landing Points” for the shapes.

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Since lines are so last year, and I am taking this for 3 units, I created this weaving framing of my surface by implementing sine waves on the structure. These included more parameters that can be changed including the number of control points, period of the wave, and amplitude of the wave.

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Once I had the skeleton of my structure, it was time to implement the adaptive components into my structure. This, for me, was the most difficult part of the entire assignment. The run time was long so testing different components was not as simple and quick as I wanted to be when things didn’t work out. After some troubleshooting and meeting with Glenn, I was able to actually create the ribbed components by using Nurbs Curves and the Curve.SweepAsSolid to make beams. The key here was to ensure that the radius of the curves was small enough such that Revit could actually sweep the surface. If the waves were too tight, then this function would not work. Thus, other parameters that can be changed are the tube radius - as long as it is small!

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Finally, the last step was to panelize the frame. For this, I used the lunchbox tool that estimated the framing spacing to be diamonds. For a more exact approach, I would subdivide the curves into more placement points, but for the sake of the project, I chose this tool instead and took the original surface to panelize my structure.

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For my end results, I was very pleased with the structure I created. This structure could serve as an art installation in a park for a place for adults and children alike to gather, sit, picnic and read in the shade while still enjoying a view. My structure feels like a tent, but with a modern twist. The final results can be seen below:

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