Edward Chen

Link to Design Journal

Journal Entry For

Module 5 - Flex Your Form

ACC Folder Link

https://acc.autodesk.com/docs/files/projects/7a6d9404-5c50-4d49-acbd-cf67d7302936?folderUrn=urn%3Aadsk.wipprod%3Afs.folder%3Aco.OCNYrM5_SPmOUd8vRgba3Q&viewModel=detail&moduleId=folders

Images/screenshots showing two variations of the input parameters that you tested for:

one of the provided building forms
your new, original building form

An image of your Dynamo and Grasshopper Graph workspaces
A brief description of your design outlining the parameters that can be used to flex and dynamically change your building form

Part 1: Flexing Provided Building Form

I started with the provided building form “Parametric Tower - One WTC” and modified it by changing the podium height to a parametric variable. The modified Revit Family is named “Parametric Tower - One WTC - Flexible Podium Height”.

Parametric Tower - One WTC - Flexible Podium Height

Next, I tested the combined variations of the following variables:

Podium Height: 100-300 ft, at 100 ft increments;
Tower Height: 1200-1400 ft, at 100 ft increments.

There are 9 total design variations. I used a Dynamo custom node to generate these variations and report their gross floor area, gross surface area, and gross volume. The logic of the custom node “Evaluate Pairs of Inputs - 3 Outputs” is as follows.

Custom node logic: EvaluatePairsOfInputs_3Outputs

The figure below shows the entire Dynamo logic. Note the custom node in the middle.

Dynamo logic

The results are reported in Excel.

Part 2: Flexing Original Building Form

In part 2, I created a new building form resembling the Shanghai Tower:

The building has a triangular floor plan with convex sides and rounded angles. One of the angles is replaced with a dent.

During modeling, I created a floor profile that contains the entire triangle with convex sides, and another profile that represents the “dent”, which helps create a void form that is subtracted out of the building form.

3D view of the parametric twisted tower.

A floor profile of the parametric twisted tower. Note the void form in orange.

The final form is as follows:

Next, I tested the combined variations of the following variables:

Top Height: 900-1100 ft, at 100 ft increments;
Mid Radius: 60-90 ft, at 10 ft increments.

There are 12 total design variations. I used the same custom node to generate these variations and report their gross floor area, gross surface area, and gross volume. The Dynamo logic is similar, besides the difference in model element and input parameters.

The results are as follows.

Besides these parameters, the mid height and the top, mid, and base rotations and radius are all adjustable.