This definition was designed to facet any surface, into a grid that can the be divided up into perforated panels.  I’ve included the grasshopper file for people to play with, all thats required from rhino’s end is a series of curves to loft and an attractor point.

Perforation Panel Grasshopper File

Note:Version of Grasshopper Needed-(Grasshopper 0.6.0019)

This little macro is really sweet for skewing rhino models into axonometrics.  Its important to note however that this will actually skew your model, save your model before you do this.

Just paste the following text into your menu bar:

! _Select _Pause _SetActiveViewport Top _Rotate 0 30 _SetActiveViewport Right _Shear w0 w0,0,1 -45 _SetActiveViewport Top _Zoom _All _Extents

In my previous articles, my exploration of flocking has remained in the realm of a diagram.  This iteration is the first step in taking those conceptual thoughts and brining them to a more architectural level.   My previous diagrams generated a logic.  The logic consisted of a series of points that responded to one another and a series of vectors attached to those points.  The next step I took was in aggregating those collections of points.

The aggregations involved connecting the spheres of flocking’s origin points.  After the aggregation each of the flocks was connected to the next via a poly-line.  Those lines were the divided to create points, these points were affected by the semi circles, which effectively represent spheres of influence.  The points are then turned into floor plates.

———————————————————————–

———————————————————————–

———————————————————————–

———————————————————————–

———————————————————————–

———————————————————————–

-Liam Morrow

This Grasshopper definition uses a grid of points to generate a series of curves that respond to an attractor point.  This definition is a great example of using really simple and basic concepts of parametrics to accomplish a more complicated goal.  Essentially, all this definition is composed of is an attractor point that adjusts the curvature of a plane and an attractor point that adjusts the radius of circles that are projected onto that surface.  The small bit of vbscript at the end is used to split the circles from the surface.

Note:Version of Grasshopper Needed-(Grasshopper 0.6.0019)

VBscript:

a = rhutil.RhinoSplitBrepFace(y, 0, x.ToArray, doc.AbsoluteTolerance) 

As a bit of code, its actually not very necessary.  Does it really matter if you split the circles in grasshopper or rhino space?  In this case, not really, however its useful to know and more importantly it brings up the question of how integrated grasshopper can become with rhino.  As a tool, grasshopper can be great a modeling things really quickly and when you start to make relationships its really great at doing calculations for you.  These panels are a good example, they illustrate both a much easier way of modeling and an easier way of calculating the relationships between points.  Grasshopper presents a much clearer way for the designer to understand what the relationships are within a given project.  Given this diagrammatic way of seeing the logic behind an object, designers should begin to spend more time articulating these relationships and less time articulating the form. 

The set of images at the top of the article represent an ethereal form of an object.  They show a logic, but in order for them to mean anything they need to be put within context.  The context would then generate a meaningful form.  Whether you design in grasshopper or rhino space is irrelevant as long as there is some context attached to the object.  An example with respect to this tutorial could be assigning the attractor points some sort of value, such as amount of light, pre-existing site constraints, or even something as simple as compositional logic.

 -Liam Morrow

I’ve just uploaded a new tutorial based around the grasshopper plug-in for rhino, Louver Tutorial.  For those who don’t know about grasshopper, visit this link (Grasshopper).  In short, grasshopper is a plug-in for rhino that is used to generate parametric objects.  Its more or less a playground for creating relationships between geometries.  In the tutorial, I explain by example how to decompose a surface in order to map points along it.  These points become the start of a louver system, in which all kinds of relationships could be created to organize their generation. 

Note:Version of Grasshopper Needed-(Grasshopper 0.6.0019)

Flocking is the subtle organization of part to part relationships. One of the most common examples of this is obviously flocks of birds, such as the starlings at Otmoor(see video after the break). Flocking in that case consists of a couple elements. The first being clustering of parts, so these parts are forming a spatial relationship of proximity. The next being a correspondence to average heading, each of those starlings not only react to the spatial field of the others, but also to the direction in which they are headed. The final element is a collection of average mass, this is almost a example of part to whole, except for the fact that it is less a reaction and more of a product generated by the first two rules. The starlings as a field of objects generate an emergent condition, the first two elements are a reaction, while the center of mass is something else entirely it is an emergent product generated through the complexity of the system.

A Flock of Starlings at Otmoor

The challenge now is to generate an architecture from these systems and emergent qualities. After the initial analysis, it was important to generate an abstract system that could better explain the nuances of the system at work. The first step was creating an object, a boid, which is short for bird and droid. The first boids were developed by Craig Reynolds, for a quick history lesson visit his website, Craig Reynolds. A boid is the perfect solution for this system as it is the most basic shape that shows direction. As explained in the first analysis, the boids must respond both to the proximity of others and the direction. The second part of the image below demonstrates how this was done, there is a circle drawn around the first boid which is double the width, this creates a proximity on which to work. The second step is to rotate the boid based on two conditions a comparison of the vector of the previous boid and the tangent of the proximity circle. For the first iteration this creates solely a perpendicular relationship, but the more iterations that occur the more the angle will vary. This emulates how as the pieces become more distant from the origin there is less control.

The next image demonstrates object avoidance and the most important part of the system. The new arc is generated similarly to the first circle, except that the portion of circle within the first has been removed in order to maintain object avoidance. This is essential because the next step involves a ratio to find the next boid location. The interesting thing about this is that as you adjust boid location at the origin, the ratios will remain, but the position generated will change. This is what creates the reactive system, each boid is reacting to the others.

The following images explain in depth the system described above. The new location is reacting to a chosen ration and the rotation is once again a comparison of the vector from the previous boid and the tangent of the location on the arc. This system is repeated as needed.

I chose only three generation of boids in order to keep the system manageable, however in theory this system could be deployed ad infinitum. One of the final steps of the individual system was to prepare it for aggregation. It made sense to maintain the language of the system and continue the rules set forth.

Finally the system is aggregated together; and once again each of the individual spheres of influence are reacting to each other. Essentially creating flocks that react to other flocks. One of the most interesting things about this project is that it was accomplished within grasshopper, a plug-in for rhino. Grasshopper is a graphic system for coding within rhino, it however follows a very linear program logic. Referring back to the early analysis it is clear that flocking is anything but linear. Flocking would be more suited to a recursive language where there is some kind of conditional statement, such as:

If(boids are too close)

Then(move boids so they are not close)

Otherwise(do nothing)

This kind of conditional statement would be responsive to individual situations. It would loop continuously asking the question, are the boids too close, and when they are no longer in proximity it terminates itself. Grasshopper, however requires that as you build your system the, piece’s reaction is built in.

Work has grinded to a halt as everyone prepares for school, many of us have gone traveling.  Our group had one more meeting in the time between this post and last.  I regrettably was not able to make it.  A slight problem arose when a team member added another without consulting the group.  So as a very large team at eleven, we are an even larger team at twelve.  Even with this expansion to our already bloated roster, we have been unable to decide on much or even get much done. We have managed to accomplish a few tasks that were set, mainly the site.

What has been accomplished is the selection of the majority of the site.  We chose a very large site, the water front, and plan to use this size to our advantage.  It will enable us to create a whole new circulation and program for the city.  A few other sites have been suggested throughout the city as possible outlier building sites, smaller extension of our main site.  The waterfront is the best possible opportunity to change how people think of this city.  From the very beginning our team has wanted to take what is already in Detroit and “make it work”.  By choosing the waterfront it may be possible to explore one of those early goals, the auto industry.

The picture at the top of the post may be confusing to many, it was part of a conversation I was having with a few other team members.  The conversation centered around “Green Architecture”, as of this moment the group believes green architecture to be plopping giant turbines in Detroit.  I still hold to the position that while that may be green, that is not architecture.  Like many other conversations this eventually came to nothing, I’m starting to worry about what this group is going to create.

This is the first tutorial with hopefully more to come.  You can find it in my tutorial section or follow this link Lineweight Tutorial. The tutorial is focused on the workflow between CAD and Illustrator, with the goal being a successful line drawing. This is how I do all of my line drawings. I prefer for the simple fact that what you see is what you get in illustrator, unlike CAD which requires multiple trials before the proper lineweights are applied.

 

    Organization, the ultimate goal of architecture, is essential to coherent design.  Architecture strives for some factor that defines its conception.  Design decisions based upon an organizing principle are always stronger and easier to comprehend.

     So all this organizing is meant to achieve what?  Space, but what is that?  This word is thrown around by architects all the time, and is rarely explained in school.  Space is the sum of the experience of being at a location, based upon the organization of materials on hand.  Corbusier would say that space is about axes and how light plays off the surfaces of forms.  Both of these are incredibly important, the axis helps to understand what is being experienced and when.  An example once again from Corbusier “ Architectural buildings should not all be placed upon axes, for this would be like so many people talking at once”. 

      Another example of axis is Eisenmann’s House VI.  In this house, the axises become tools in the form making process.  The house is divided into quadrants which are further divided by intersections of marking from a set of rules, this creates new divisions.  As a tool, these intersecting zones and quadrants become very interesting when introduced in section.  House VI is an excellent example of using the axes to create interesting space without forgetting the human scale.  Its very easy for the architect to lose perspective and forget that the reason for the axis is not only for the architects organizing principles, but also for the occupants to better understand the boundaries created by the architect.

 So it really isn’t the axis that is the key, but the new boundaries that are perceived.  Space then by that definition is a boundary that the human mind can distinguish. 

-Image of City from ShiftOperations