Creating Forms with Revit Conceptual Masses
- example building forms
The results are from the manual change in Revit and Excel output from Dynamo.(example building forms)
- My own original building form
The results are from the manual change in Revit and Excel output from Dynamo.(My own original building form)
Brief description and points to ponder question:
For this 2 unit assignment, I first created a Revit project environment using conceptual mass modeling to study the relationship between parametric building forms and their geometric performance metrics. The project location was set to Dubai in order to support future environmental and solar analysis. Levels and mass floors were added to compute the gross floor area, gross surface area, and gross building volume automatically in Revit.
In Part 1, I imported an example conceptual mass family (One WTC twisting) and used Dynamo to flex two of the building parameters( Tower Top Height and Tower Based Side 1) while maintaining several geometric constraints and relationships such as taper and rotation. By varying the selected parameter through Dynamo, multiple alternative design cases were generated and evaluated automatically. The resulting geometric metrics were exported into a summary table for comparison between different design scenarios.
In Part 2, I generated my own building form by using the 3 point twisting template, and do the same operation as part 1 by changing two parameters(Top Height and Top Rotation) while maintaining several geometric constraints. The resulting geometric metrics were exported into a summary table for comparison between different design scenarios.
Exporting the values to Excel allows the results from multiple design alternatives to be organized automatically into a clear table, making comparisons much easier. It also updates efficiently when the Dynamo graph is rerun, reducing manual work and possible human errors. In addition, Excel provides useful tools for data analysis, visualization, and documentation of the design process.
Creating Forms with Dynamo or Grasshopper Geometry(3 units)
In this stage, I created a parametric building form using Dynamo to explore how different geometric inputs affect the overall building performance metrics. Instead of using regular polygon footprints, I developed a custom wavy rectangular profile as the floor footprint geometry and saved it as a custom node(WavyRectangleProfile). The profile was controlled parametrically using variables such as wave amplitude, number of waves, tower rotation, and building dimensions.
Multiple floor profiles were generated at different elevations to create the tower form. These profiles were then lofted together to generate the final building surface and volume. By manually adjusting the parameters, I verified that the geometry changed as expected and that the parametric relationships remained consistent throughout the model.
Next, the Dynamo graph was expanded to test combinations of two input parameters (Mid Height and Top Rotation) simultaneously. Using List.Map, multiple design alternatives were generated automatically and evaluated by another custom node I created(TowerCalculateAreaVolume) through metrics including gross floor area, gross surface area, and gross building volume. The results from at 16 cases were exported into a summary table to compare how different parameter combinations influenced the overall building form and performance.
Points to Ponder:
Among the input parameters, the wave amplitude had the greatest effect on the overall building form because it significantly changed the façade geometry, surface complexity, and building appearance. In comparison, parameters such as rotation mainly influenced the visual twisting effect but had a smaller impact on the overall floor area and volume.
Custom node I created to perform wavy rectangular profile
Custom node I created to calculate the resulting metrics
Two parameters that I use to test my building
Result Table
Output Geometry