Creating Forms with Revit Conceptual Masses
Part 1
original form
flexing and testing
Flexible parameters: For the first part, I used the massing of the one world trade center, in which I set the parameter to be flexed as the base of the tower, which worked twofold as both bases, the ground and the elevated one, are linked together in the family setup, so when one is shifted, the other follows suit. Changing the length also changes how high the square portion of the building goes up the height of it, since the twisting depends on how wide the base is, which increases as the length does. This creates a very interesting dynamic that
Part 2
- Flexible parameters: There are three profiles that make up the unique building form from part two, each of which are altered rounded triangles that are linked in shape but differ in the ratios of their radii and rotation, so when flexed, the entire form bulges out or shrinks in, with an adjustable height. I chose to have the radius be the flexed parameter because I wanted to manipulate something more subtle than the base, like the last part, and with the added changes to the family as to the shape of the triangles, the results were intriguing. The offset rotations of the profiles create a dynamic twisting structure that is softened out by the curved nature of the triangles.
original form
flexing and testing
There are many advantages of exporting the values to Excel. First, every time you run the program, the spreadsheet updates to the most current testing values, and you can even make the node erase the previous data in case there was overlap in the number of inputs (say 8 last time, and 4 the current time, without this you would still have 8 in that column, but 4 would be from the previous test). This bypasses extremely tedious work such as coping and pasting each individual number into a spreadsheet only for you to want to change something and then have to redo it by hand again. As the program gets larger and more complex, the more variables there will be to keep track of, and the obscenity of hand transcribing each one every time a slight change is made would be very great. In addition, as this is a parametric class, these numbers must change very often, as each drag of a slider could change all of the numbers, and having an automatic, direct transcription of these into a nice, clear spreadsheet is vital. Also, it is very nifty as you can change the rows and columns that the data is imported to to leave space for titles and allows for the addition of unlimited data points into an automatic, consolidated, clean, and organized space.