When looking for inspiration for this assignment, I decided to base my model off of one of my favorite roofs that a previous employer constructed. This house is located near Aspen, Colorado and it’s supposed to mimic the mountains surrounding it.
This would be too complex for the purposes of this module, so I went with a single peak connected to a hyperbolic paraboloid base. My roof would also be a self standing structure, ideally supported by only the few angled columns that reach the ground.
My approach was as follows:
- Create a perimeter of points forming the hyperbolic paraboloid base
- Connect all the points to a peak point using lines
- Discretize these longitudinal lines to create the transverse supports
- Use all the created points (minus the peak) to form connecting surface panels
Almost everything in my model can be changed and flexed. The amount of longitudinal and lateral elements, the size of the entire structure (length, width, height), and the shape of the shelter (by changing hyperbolic paraboloid constants). Examples of these changes in action can be seen below.