Screenshot of Final Model:

Revit Model

Inspiration:

Lotus Temple, New Delhi, India

Modelling Approach:

Surface Design:

• There are basically 4 circles used to create the “Petals” and “Sepals” of Lotus.
• The radius of these circles and number of parameter points that determine the number of petals and sepals can be easily controlled using the number slider.

• With the curve lines created using Arc.ByStartPointEndPointStartTangentInside

• The shape of petals and sepals can be changed by changing tangent angle, in this assignment z-axis is used as tangent

• Half of petal and sepal surfaces are created using Surface.Loft function

• Then using Geometry.Mirror, the other half of the surfaces are created as they are symmetrical about Z-X plane

Note: Inner Petals of the lotus are not created as this structure’s primary purpose is to serve as partial shelter. (The inside Petals can be easily designed by scaling down the outside base circle and adjusting the petal sizes)

Framing Design:

• All the surfaces are divided into grid of points in their corresponding U-V plane using Surface.PointatParameter

• All the points are flattened (Petal and sepal surfaces are treated separately) into a single dimension dimension and then manipulated to create Horizontal (U) and Vertical (V) Framing using the concept discussed in the module for placing end-to-end adaptive components
• 2 point tube family element was placed at all the end to end coordinates in both u, v directions, with the ability to change its radius using number slider

Panel Design:

• Using the “Quads from Rectangular Grid” function, collection of 4 points on every surface is generated and later 4 point panels are placed
• On the Petal surface, “Rect_Seamless_Panel” Family is used and on the Sepals surface “Rect_Panel with Resizable Opening” Family is used.

• On top of that the panels on Sepals, are divided into 2 groups using the TakeEveryNthItem function, this allows to alternate panels with different opening ratios

Parameters that influence the overall design:

• Number of parameters that determine the number of petals and sepals (min 2)
• Radius of the base circle
• Height of the shelter / flower
• Length of overhang (radius of outer circle)
• Shape of petal (determined by tangent angle)
• Family types of structural elements and panels
• Number of ribs or structural elements (Number of points in u, v directions on surfaces)
• Size of tubes used in structural framing
• Opening ratio of panels

Examples:

• The Petal in the model with 3 parameters seems to be broader , this makes the horizontal coverage for the model with 3 parameters lesser than the model with 4 parameter

3 parameters Model

4 Parameters model

• If we increase the opening ratio to more than 1, then the petals will go outward, just like budding of a lotus flower

• Broadness of Petal increases as we need the tangent angle at the base point (which is used in creating the arcs for petal surface boundary).

Tangent angle : 0 degrees Tangent angle : 20 degrees Tangent angle : 40 degrees