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

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

• 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).