First Image: Preloaded Shape (Height and Width)
First Image: My Custom Shape (Height and Width) (I should have made the legs of the h-shape thicker to give me more floor surface area and therefore meet the requirements for the square footage of the project)
For my building form, the two parameters I decided to be allowed to flex were the top height of the building as well as the building width. The top height of the building is flexed because it allows one to see the changes in floor area of the total building and how it increases with increased building heights and decreases with decreased building heights. It also shows how generally the surface area increases with larger heights and decreases with smaller heights. Flexing the building width parameter allowed the bottom of the structure to expand and contract. As it expanded, the floor area increases and the gross surface area increased. Both of these factors have direct relationships with each other meaning that if both values are increased then both gross floor area and gross surface area will increase where the opposite is true with decreasing.
Point to Ponder: Excel is very valuable when running this application as it allows the data to be directly exported without human interference. This means that the recorded values are correct and the exported data can then be sorted into tables and the metrics can be evaluated and sorted to find the optimal solution easily.
Full Results of Flexing Parameters for Custom Shape (make legs thicker in future for more surface area):
