2 Units: Rise and Shine
The curved panelized surface was created by generating an adjustable arc using radius, start angle, and end angle parameters to define the plan curvature of the wall. This arc was extruded vertically to create a curved surface with a user-controlled wall height. The surface was then subdivided into a rectangular panel grid by calculating the required horizontal panel count based on the ratio of wall height to curve length, allowing the panel aspect ratio to remain proportional as the geometry changes.
Image mapping was applied by remapping the panel UV coordinates into image-space coordinates and using an Image Sampler to project the selected image across the curved panelized surface. The sampled colors were then displayed on the subdivided panels through custom preview, allowing the image to wrap dynamically across the curved geometry.
The primary adjustable parameters include arc radius, starting angle, ending angle, wall height, and panel density/resolution. Adjusting these inputs updates the curved geometry, panelization, and mapped image in real time.
The serpentine wall was generated by defining a sinusoidal curve through a parametric equation that uses adjustable wave amplitude, wave count, and wall length inputs. This curve was interpolated and extruded vertically to create the continuous serpentine wall surface, with wall height controlled by an independent slider. The resulting surface was then subdivided into a rectangular grid based on user-defined horizontal and vertical resolution parameters to establish the pixelation density for the image mapping.
An image was sampled across the subdivided wall surface by remapping panel coordinates into image-space coordinates and using an Image Sampler to retrieve the RGB values for each panel location. Pixel brightness was calculated from the sampled RGB values and remapped to an extrusion depth range, which was then applied along the local surface normal of each panel to generate three-dimensional bump-outs across the serpentine wall. The sampled image colors were also applied to the final extruded geometry using custom preview so that the image remains visible across the bumped surface while preserving the depth-based relief effect.
The primary adjustable parameters include wall length, wall height, wave amplitude, wave count, image resolution, pixel/extrusion depth range, and image source. Adjusting these inputs dynamically updates the wall geometry, image resolution, and three-dimensional relief mapping in real time.
3 Units: Gonna Need Shades
The building form was modeled by first creating a rectangular lower-level footprint with adjustable length, depth, and wall height parameters. This footprint was extruded vertically to generate the lower-level walls. An offset version of the lower-level footprint was then created to define the upper-level plan, translated upward to the top of the lower level, and extruded to form the upper-level walls, producing a two-tiered massing with variable setbacks/overhangs.
The wall surfaces for both levels were subdivided into vertical rectangular panels using panel width controls and a ceiling function to determine the required panel count based on wall length. Panel frames and shading elements were generated at each panel location and evaluated independently through flattened data structures. Ladybug was used to define the project location in New York City and generate sun vectors based on user-controlled month, day, and hour inputs. These vectors were compared against panel normals using dot product logic, and the resulting solar directness values were remapped to control the rotation angle of each shading panel while simultaneously driving a green-to-yellow color gradient to visualize solar exposure across the facade.
The primary adjustable parameters include lower and upper floor dimensions, lower and upper wall heights, upper-level offset distance, panel width, project location, month, day, hour, and maximum panel rotation angle. Adjusting these inputs dynamically updates the building geometry, panelization, solar visualization, and shading panel response in real time.
4 Units: Shield Your Eyes
The tower geometry was built from three polygon profiles: a base radius, mid radius, and top radius. These profiles were moved vertically, exploded, flipped, and lofted together to create the pinched tower surface. The lofted surface was then divided into a panel grid using the tower height and V-count controls, with alternating panels separated into even and odd groups.
Ladybug was configured using New York City as the project location for the Sunpath analysis so the facade response would be based on realistic solar conditions for an urban high-rise context. This location input allowed the panel rotation logic to respond to sun vectors generated specifically for New York City based on the selected date and time. Those vectors were compared with the panel normals using a dot product, and the resulting values were remapped into a rotation angle. The even and odd panel groups were then rotated around their panel edge axes using Rotate 3D, creating the operable facade pattern.
The main adjustable parameters are base radius, mid radius, top radius, number of sides, tower height, V-count, location, month, day, hour, and maximum panel rotation angle.
** During development, two corner panels produced inconsistent rotation behavior and would require additional debugging of the panel grouping and rotation logic to align properly with the rest of the façade. After several hours of troubleshooting, a complete solution to this issue was not identified. **
