Project Movie

Marina Bay Sands

Marina Bay Sands features three 55-story hotel towers. The
three towers are connected by a 1 hectare sky terrace on the roof, named Sands
SkyPark.  This is a luxury hotel in the
main area of Singapore. The three towers are unique with a front and back slab
which are connected at the 34^th story by the elevator shaft in
between. In addition these slabs are curved giving a unique feature. Between
the front and back slabs (below the 34^th story) there is an atrium
space.

Picture Coutesy: usmanawan68 at http://travelhdwallpapers.com/marina-bay-sands-resort/

Parametric
Mass Modelling

The mass is
made of three components the front slab, the back slab and the shaft. The shaft
is attached to the front slab and connects both the slabs from 34^th story
onwards. The thickness of the slabs and the elevator shaft can be changed as
desired. In addition the opening between each tower can be changed and the
curve of the back slab will be optimized accordingly. This can be seen in the
screenshots below.

Sreenshot1: Mass model used in Project

Sreenshot2: Mass model with increased
slab thickness and opening

 

The opening of the three towers are parametrically
controlled by the first tower.

Opening of tower 2=1.5*Opening of Tower 1

Opening of tower 3=1.5*Opening of Tower 2

In addition the tower width, spacing between the towers and
sky deck elevation can also be changed.

Curtain Panel Model

The design intent behind the panels is to have same inclination
of the panel shade with respect to ground as the inclination of the back slab.
This is done to have a sense of uniformity in the cladding on the towers. For
this a simple rectangular curtain panel was used with a steel frame. A panel
shade was modelled in the frame which can rotate about itself.

First a mass model of a shade was created with parameters of
width and thickness

 

This was then imported in a curtain panel family and the
width is linked to the width of the panel (can be seen grayed) so that the
shade can close the panel completely. The shade is placed on two reference
points on the panel boundary, which helps to rotate the panel in turn by
rotating these reference point inclinations.

Sreenshot3: Curtain Panel with 0
degrees

 

The rotation of the panel was kept an instance parameter so
that the shade of the panels located on the curved portion of the back slab
could be inclined accordingly. The shade rotation can be seen below.

Sreenshot1: Curtain Panel with the
angle of rotation changed

 

After this curtain panel is imported into the mass family,
the inclination of the shade is linked with the inclination of the respective
towers. Hence the lower panels on the back slab of each tower have the same
inclination as the tower with the ground. This can be seen below. These
inclinations change parametrically as the opening of each tower changes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is also means that the shades on the front slab which
is straight has an angle of 90 degrees.

Critics of Modelling

Creating challenging shapes in Revit is a challenge especially
as the reference lines keep increasing. I had difficulty in modelling the sky
park and attaching it to the towers below. In addition the curved part of the
boat was not getting parametrically controlled. Using partial ellipse was
giving a good shape to the nose but changing the radius and the width of this
ellipse parametrically was not possible.

Another problem faced was while modelling the curtain
panels. The inclination of the shade could not be changed with respect to its
location on the tower (like height). I had to go and individually link each
shade (each instance) with the tower inclination. Hence if I change the number
of divisions on the surface, then again some panels will be have to be linked
with the tower inclination.

Renderings

Rendering 1: Interior of Hotel room

Rendering 2 : Exterior

Watch Video on You Tube: https://youtu.be/PQBr6UMlJXE