ARCH 653 - BIM in Architecture: April 2014

Concept

For Project 2, I chose to re-create the triangulated metal screen so that it represents a dynamic facade of varying scales of the triangular pattern. If there is glass behind the screen, I would like the perforations to be larger and let in more light. Inversely, if there is a wall or solid mass behind the screen, I would like the pattern scale to be smaller and appear more opaque.

After watching tutorial videos for the Dynamo plugin for Revit, I decided to create the triangulated metal screen by implementing a computational attractor point that directs how the grid pattern changes scale. Whereas the example showed this method with circular geometry, I will try to make it work with a triangle form instead.

Computational attractor tutorial served as inspiration for my perforated screen facade

Step 1: Creating the Panel

The first step was to create a panel with a triangular cutout that could vary in size, depending on mathematical parameters. I started with an adaptive mass family and inscribed triangular reference geometry within a circular reference line. I implemented parameters so that the triangle would change size when the diameter of the circle was altered. This geometry was then placed within a square mass object. The square was extruded as a solid mass and the triangle was extruded as a void, so the resulting panel displayed a triangular perforation that could change size within the panel.

Assigning parameters to the reference geometry

Triangle extruded as a void form

Final panel with Corten steel texture added

Triangle panel with parameters flexed

Step 2: Using Dynamo and the Computational Attractor Method

The triangle panel was then loaded into the conceptual mass family of the Caixa Forum (created for the last project). Using the tutorial .dyn file as a guide, I set up a visual program within Dynamo that could control the width and height of the panel array. Then I implemented a point that would act as a computational attractor within the panel array. The closer a panel is the this "attractor point," then the size of the triangular hole within the panel will shrink. Inversely, the further the panel is from this point, then the larger and more open the void becomes. The result is a rectangular grid of custom panels with varying sizes of triangular voids cut through them.

The overall program layout within Dynamo

The node cluster at the top represents the parameters to guide the size and spacing of the panel array.

The node cluster below represents the attractor point and its location (XYZ coordinates) within the panel array.

This node cluster links the attractor point values to the size of the diameter of the circular reference geometry embedded within the custom panel. When the diameter of the circle flexes, the size of the triangular void is altered accordingly.

The result is a rectangular panel array showing varying scales of perforation.

Step 3: Applying the panel to the model

Once the panel array was complete, the group was copied, rotated, and placed onto the facade of the conceptual mass. Unfortunately the existing roof voids of the Caixa Forum model did not cut through the panel array, so I manually deleted individual panels so that it could reveal the cuts in the roof structure. The effect is not as clean and exact as I would like.