2 Units Task - “A Walk in the Park”

The Design

For this assignment, I wanted to design a ground surface for a park that included a water river, similar to some parks that I have seen in Switzerland, close to the Zurich area. The concept behind this design is to provide a serene environment where people can unwind and bask in the sun on the sandy banks near the water, while also offering ample space for various recreational activities such as picnics, volleyball games, and frisbee on the adjacent grassy areas. The resulting design is illustrated below in three different views:

The Modeling Approach

In terms of modelling approach, I have followed the steps:

First, I have created the a 2D rectangular grid of points covering an area of exatctly 200’ x 200’ to represent the extents of the park.
Then, I have created the attractor point that I used to specify the center of the sine wave ripple effect. I have intentionally positioned this point at the top-left corner of the park, strategically chosen to serve as the starting point for a picturesque hill cascading down towards the water.
Then, I have defined the sine wave ripple effect using the mathematical formula: baseHeight+(amplitude*Math.Sin((cubeDistance/maxDistance)*360*numberOfWaves)); For this formula I have calculated the cubeDistance as the distance between each of the cuboid centerpoints and the attractor point. I have set numberOfWaves at 1, amplitude at 15, and defined the baseHeight as (amplitude + 3).
I have finally created cuboids based on the point grids created at point 1, and based on the height calculate with the sine function at point 3. These cuboids were ultimately translated along the z axis to have all of the bases at the same elevation. The translation used half of the cuboid height value.
(EXTRA) In order to give meaning into the initial design idea, I implemented a code inspired by various online sources to assign a specific color to each cube based on its height. Utilizing four base colors, each representing different terrain elements, the scheme aimed to depict a natural landscape:

Light blue symbolizes the water body 🌊
Ochre denotes sandy areas 🏖️
Light green representes grass near the sandy regions 🌿
Dark green indicates grass in other areas 🌲

The code dynamically assigns colors based on the height of each cube. By analyzing the range of heights across all cuboids, the code generates a color map utilizing a series of indices (that I tuned to be [0,0.1,0.4,1]. Through adjustments, the resulting colors closely resembled those found in natural environments, enhancing the overall aesthetic appeal and realism of the design. The code is illustrated below:

3 Units Task - “Eliminate the Echo”

The Design

For this assignment, I have designed a ceiling system of sound attenuating cylinders arranged in a wave pattern as illustrated in the three different views below. I opted for this design to emulate the pattern commonly found in soundproof foams.

The Modeling Approach

In terms of modelling approach, I have followed similar steps of what already described above. Specifically:

First, I have created an XY planed translated of 12’ upwards in the Z direction
Using this plane, I created a rectangular grid of cylinder elements at the ceiling level
I created the attractor point that I used to specify the center of the sine wave ripple effect
Then, I set the height of each cylinder to simulate the sine wave ripple effect using the mathematical formula: baseHeight+(amplitude* sin((pointDistance/maxDistance)*360*numberOfWaves)); For this formula I have calculated the pointDistance as the distance between each of the cylinder centerpoints and the attractor point. I have set numberOfWaves at 3, amplitude at 1.5, and defined the baseHeight as 2 (set higher than the amplitude). Note 1: these values were set to produce a similar shape of those soundproof foam boards, similar to the one displayed below:

Note 2: despite using two separate sliders for amplitude and base height in grasshopper, I have made sure that the base height was higher than the amplitude.

4 Units Task - “Happy Facade”

The Design

For this assignment, the proposed design features a very happy facade! 😊 The idea behind this design is to resemble two rainbows merging together on one of the wall diagonals. Ideally, the round openings could be filled in with colored glass to represent the rainbow colors!

This is a front view displaying the “happy wall”. In this view, the attractor points (at the bottom-left and top-right corners) and the reference circles (used to cut the wall geometry) are also displayed.

The wall overview presented in the image below has been enhanced by removing the reference circles, grid points, and attractor points.

The Modeling Approach

The modeling approach for this assignment was very similar to what I have already described for the 2 units task. I have however used the cosine formula instad of sine to achieve the design that I liked. For this same purpose, I have set the following parameters:

The length and height of the wall were kept at 50’ and 30’, respectively.
The grid spacing was set at 2.5 instad than 2 to avoid circles (windows) intersecting.
The attractor points were placed simmetrically at points (2.5, 2.5) and (47.5, 27.5) to provide a symmetric and aesthetically pleasing design resembling two rainbows merging in the main wall diagonal.
The windows diameters were set using the mathematical formula: minDiameter+(amplitude*Math.Cos((distanceToAttractor/maxDistance) * 360 * numberOfWaves)); I have set numberOfWaves at 6, amplitude at 1, minDiameter at (amplitude + 0.15), maxDistance as the longest wall dimension (length of 50’ in my case) and distanceToAttractor is the computed distance to the nearest attractor point.