3 Units

The Sky’s the Limit!

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“The Sky’s the Limit” tool allows a project owner to make the most out the plot of land they have for their skyscraper. Input the plot of land’s width and length (”Plot Width [ft]” and “Plot Length [ft]” integer sliders) to ensure that shape you choose maximizes it’s footprint. After inputting the plot area, a building height (”Building Height [ft]” can be selected for the design. A taper from the base to the top can be induced into the structure by altering the “Building Taper [ft]” slider. The height between floors can be altered as well by changing the “Height Between Floors [ft]” input. The number of sides of the structure can be altered from a triangle (3 sides) to a dodecagon (12 sides) and anything in between! This can be done by changing the “Number of Sides” slider. The primary material for the structure can also be changed between concrete (0), steel (1), and a sustainable alternative material (2), by changing the “Building Primary Material” slider between those three numbers. Lastly, a cost per volume can be input into the tool to allow for an accurate calculation of the cost for the structure. It is currently set to $160/CF, based on the Willis Tower in Chicago, but this can be altered by changing the “Cost/Volume [$/CF]” slider in the tool.

This tool provides four output metrics: “Floor Area [SF]” , “Cost [$]”,, “Time to Construct [hrs]”, and “Environmental Impact”. These outputs are dependent on the project inputs. The floor area provides the total floor area in the building, so it computes each floor’s area and then sums them all together. The cost is based on the cost/volume inputted, the material, and the size of the structure. The time to construct is also based on the material and the size of the structure and is meant to provide the man-hours it would take to build the skyscraper designed. The environmental impact takes into account the procurement, transportation, construction, and lifetime impact of the material selected based on the size of the structure.

“The Sky’s the Limit” is meant to allow skyscraper designers to evaluate different options quickly to determine what best fits their needs and optimizes their plot area. For a detailed video explanation on how to use “The Sky’s the Limit” please watch:

Project Workflow:

Below is the overall project workflow.

The inputs required for this project are shown below:

The nodes where the structure is created and computations are done is shown below:

After the inputs were selected, the first part of the workflow was to create the building footprint.

Once the building footprint was created, the building form was then able to be generated based on the size of the footprint that was inputted and the desired shape and height of the structure.

Once the exterior building form was generated, the floors could be placed based on the height of the structure, the height between floors, the taper in the building, and the building shape.

After the structure was created, calculations could be done, starting with the volume and cost calculations.

After volume and cost, the time to construct was computed.

Lastly, the material impact was calculated for the structure based on the selected material and the layout of the structure.

Once the structure was created and the calculations were performed, the outputs could be produced.

Once the workflow was finalized, the tool was then opened in Dynamo Player to allow ease of use.