ARCH 653 Final Project by Jaynee Jhaveri

Project 2

This project is an extension of the Project 1. Dynamo has been explored here to see its advantages and extra features over Revit. Three scripts have been made each having a different purpose.

 Fig 1: Exterior Rendering with all 3 scripts implemented

Script 1: Controlling panel rotations

In my first project, I linked each panel on the inclined towers with the inclination of the respective tower. This inclination of the tower was calculated by a formula (user defined). In addition each panel had to be selected and the rotation had to be linked to the tower inclination. This involved manual work. In addition the panel rotation could not be changed as the inclination was changing with the height. In order to make this better Dynamo program was created

Hence, in the dynamo code the panel inclination changes with the height. Also all the panels can be changed simultaneously and no manual work is required. In addition the inclination is calculated by the program and hence scope of error is also removed.

The script starts with selecting all the exterior faces of the towers. These are combined in a list. When these are combined the surfaces appear as list of list. To bring these in one list only, list mapping was used. This helps us to run the entire program on different faces without copying the entire code for each face. Further a Lunch Box node was used to divide the surfaces. This node is more advanced than the Dynamo node as it gives the dived surfaces and points together. Using Dynamo nodes to find the points of the divided surface is a tiresome process. This can be seen below.

Fig 1: First part of Script 1

Once we have the divided the faces, a normal node was used to find the normal of each divided panel. The orientation of the normal was found with the z axis (reference axis) by using dot product. Some math operations were done to get the angle of rotation of the panels. This angle was then assigned to the parameter rotation angle parameter of the panel family. This part of code is seen below. The output can also be seen.

Fig 2: Second part of Script 1

Also if the opening of the towers is changed in the family then Dynamo automatically updates the inclination of the towers and hence the rotation of the panels. This can be also be seen below.

Fig 3 : Rotation of panels changing with the height hence the inclination of the surface

Script 2: Modelling trusses

This feature was added to project. The actual Marina bay sands does not have this but I thought it would add a creative aspect to the boat structure. The basic idea was followed from the Auto desk tutorial (Module 2 part 3). The script starts with selecting the boat face. Then planes are created on the edge of the boat at fixed distances. The intersection of these planes are found on different curves of the boat face. This part of the code can be seen below.

Fig 4: Plane intersections with different curves

Fig 5: Different curves used for modelling

Then various listing operations were done to get these points in order to create the adaptive components. This was most challenging task. The points were list of list of list values. Hence mapping was done to reduce the listing order. Then a list was created with these 4 list (each representing one curve) and then transposed. 

Fig 6: Listing operations to obtain points for adaptive component

Fig7 : Final output of the trusses

Script 3: Panel on Boat

This is also an additional feature given to the project. The boat surface is selected first and then divided using the same Lunch Box function for triangular geometry used earlier. The idea was to change the color of the panels. Instead of using the Override color in view, read image or excel to control this I decided to use listing operations to randomize the color of the panels. To change the color I made various materials of glass having different colors. A list of all these materials was made and replicated number of times to give a long list containing the materials multiple times in random order. Then another list was made to select every n^th item from this long list. By changing the n value the randomizing can be changed as pleases. This would select materials randomly from the list giving us a random colored boat façade. The script can be seen below.

Fig 8: Selecting the boat, creating panels and putting adaptive components

Fig 9: Second part of Script 3

Fig 10: Listing operations in detail

Fig 11: Final Result of Script 3

Project Movie

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