For my shelter, I imagined a roof that can have various curvatures and is supported by fan-shaped frames throughout. For the creativity aspect, I wanted not just to explore the surface of the roof, but also how the forms can change parametrically within the frame supports. The sketch below in figure 1 gives a general idea of the structure I had envisioned.
2 Units: Modeling a Parametric Structure
For stage 1, I imagined a bus stop shelter with many adjustable parameters for different designs and scales. The shape of the structure is controlled by four curves: the base curve on the ground, the center roof curve, and the edge roof curves. Controllable parameters are listed below:
Roof:
- length and width
- amount of panels (controls smoothness of the roof)
- “max”(center) and “min”(edge) heights, min>max makes upturned roof and min=max makes straight roof
Frame:
- number of frames
- fan base height (can be taller than roof for supported in tension or shorter for compression)
- radius/size of main column
- radius/size of fan elements
Examples of various possible combinations are shown below:
3 Units: Transforming Your Geometry
For stage 2, I imagined two places where a sinusoidal element can be added in addition to all the parameters from stage 1. This includes the top roof curve and the fan base heights. The two sine waves are implemented separately and each have parameters of amplitude and number of waves. This means the roof and the frame can be activated separately and also simultaneously with different or same waves. Any of the designs from stage 1 can be recreated with the stage 2 files since the sine waves are additional features whose parameters can be set to zero to be “turned off.”
