Introduction
For this assignment, I elected to flex the height parameters of my structure using a default Twisting Rectangular Mass. A comparison of the two models - default & amended - can be found in the following figure below. In addition, the project location was sited in San Francisco (as required in the Assignment brief).
An overview of the chart logic in Dynamo as well as the custom nodes can be found in the following figures.
Dynamo Graph Logic Setup
First, I placed the mass structure using the sample Revit Conceptual Mass Form (Twisting Rectangular Mass) that I selected and added new levels so that the mass element could be divided into mass floors to compute the necessary outputs. I also established parameters to be reported such as Gross Floor Area, Gross Surface Area and Gross Volume.
Next, I allowed the height parameter to be flexed parametrically by the user through integer sliders to determine the lower bound, upper bound and incremental height values. These steps are reflected in the following figure:
To run the different test scenarios, I used a combination of custom nodes and lists to compile the corresponding results arising from each test scenario. The logic setup for the custom node to update the element through Revit can be found in the following figure. To round off, list functions were used to map the respective results and compile these into a single data table.
Finally, the results from the Data Table were exported into Excel. The Dynamo logic for exporting the results and exported results as reflected in Excel are as follows:
Reflections & Observations
This exercise was useful in demonstrating the potential for parametric design to design structures based on specific technical constraints such as floor area and surface area. This is effective in streamlining the design development process as technical parameters such as design height, width could be flexed and adjusted as desired and tested to reflect other technical constraints such as floor area, where required.
