For 2 or More Units: Creating Forms with Revit Conceptual Masses
Using Provided Building Form
For this, the Flying Chevron Parametic Tower was used. In Revit, levels spaced at 10’ increments were added, and the conceptual floor mass could be applied to the chosen floor heights. The middle profile rotation was flexed using Dynamo inputs. The input list allows the user to select what rotation to start analyzing at, angle increments, and number of trials to test. In this particular test, every 10 degrees was tested starting at -20 degrees, with 10 steps to also show positive rotation. Above, the image on the left shows negative middle profile rotation, and the image on the right shows positive rotation. Using the provided custom node, the gross floor area is reported and exported into excel.
Using new, original building form
For the new, original building form, the 3 profile, twisting tower template was used. New mass profiles were created and applied to the template. This profile is a rectangular section, but on the length, there are triangular shapes that jut out. The base rectangle’s length and width can be dynamically changed. Similarly, the width and height of the triangles (which are symmetric) can also be altered. In the twisting tower template, the height and rotation of each of the profiles are also parameters. Running the same Dynamo Logic with the new model element, the middle profile rotation was checked again. A negative and positive rotation snapshot can be seen above with the new profile. Additionally, the table above shows the different rotation angles and corresponding parameter outputs when using the given BuildingForm.EvaluateSingleInput custom node.
What’s the advantage of exporting the values to Excel?
Exporting values to Excel makes sharing numerical data more easily, as it is a more widely used software. It is also faster than having to copy and paste values from Dynamo every time a parameter is adjusted. Furthermore, Excel can complete other mathematical operations and plot trends as needed, so being able to pull Dynamo values directly into that software can make other calculations easier.
For 3 or More Units: Creating Forms with Dynamo or Grasshopper Geometry
In this new form created with Dynamo, 5 profiles are created and lofted. The base and roof (Level 5) profiles are circles with adjustable radius parameter. Levels 2 and 4 are triangle polygons created with a circle. The circle radius, profile rotation, and filet size can be adjusted for these profiles. Finally, the middle profile, Level 3, is a rectangular shape with filets. The length, width, filet size, and the rotation of this profile can be dynamically changed. Finally, the story height can also be adjusted, which will change spacing and number of floors in this element, which is set as 200’ in height. The profiles and loft of this tower is set as a custom node that can be called for input. It outputs the gross floor area, surface area, and volume.
For this structure, the radius of Level 4 profile and the Length of Level 3 profile were flexxed. Snapshots of the flex can be shown above, where the left image shows a smaller radius/rotation, while the image on the right shows a larger radius and rotation, which shows clear changes in the overall shape of the structure and loft. For flexing, lengths from 40’ to 60’ at 5’ increments, and radii from 30’ to 60’ at 10’ increments are tested. The custom node outputs are exported into an Excel sheet, which is shown in the table above.
Which of these inputs tested has the biggest effect on creating a desirable building form?
Looking at the shape and the table output, both have large effects on the area and volume of the structure. When testing all the inputs using sliders, the radius and length/width of the profiles make the largest changes to the form. The rotation angle and fillets can adjust small parts of the form, but does not make much difference in the area/volume calculations in the end.
For 4 Units: Summarizing the Testing Results
In this Stage, an additional calculation is added to the custom node, which is the ratio of the floor area over the surface area. This is added as another output in the node. In the main Dynamo file to run the flexed inputs, another Apply Function Node is placed so that it will solve for this ratio for every radius/length input combination and export them into an Excel sheet. In Excel, the maximum and minimum ratios are calculated, and the corresponding Level 4 Radius and Level 3 Length parameters are found using the xlookup function. The resulting values are highlighted in the table above. This indicates how helpful exporting the Dynamo data to Excel automatically is, allowing the user to make other standard calculations in the sheet that update with the model.
Which of these pairs of input values gives the most desirable result? Which building form would you recommend to the developer and why?
The current selection of inputs are relatively small compared to the scale of the building, so further changes to the parameters may result in even better pairs of inputs. Generally, the pair of inputs resulting in the maximum ratio would be the more desirable result. This would maximize the rentable floor area while trying to maintain a smaller surface area, meaning that the material usage for construction will be more efficient. This is likely more desirable for the developer since it would be more cost effective.