Local Code: Site Design Algorithm

Local Code: Site Design Algorithm from Benjamin Golder on Vimeo.

Created for the WPA 2.0 design competition by the Local Code Team, this video is an illustration of the site design algorithm used on a test batch of 150 neglected streets and alleyways in San Francisco. The algorithm analyzes shaded and unshaded regions of each street for 9 sampled sun angles, uses these regions to estimate the distribution of solar radiation on the street surface, analyzes the potential for sheltering neighboring buildings from the wind and places berms to do so, creates a figure from the local lot line geometry, determines the portion of that surface area that will be used as a water quality remediation area, places an modular unit to process stormwater and sewage, creates pipelines between water remediation areas, the sewer and the modular unit, and finally selects materials to use on different portions of the site based on environmental and demographic data.
While only 150 streets are shown here, the algorithm was developed for use with a set of over 1600 "unaccpeted" streets in San Francisco.

The Local Code Team consists of:
Professor Nicholas de Monchaux
Natalia Etcheverri
Benjamin Golder
Sha Hwang
Sara Jensen
David Lung
Shivang Patwa
Thomas Pollman
Matthew Smith
Laurie Spitler

Rhinoceros 3d, Grasshopper, VB.NET scripting, Rhinoscript, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, Applescript, Maxwell, A Better File Renamer, and Quicktime were all used in the making of this video.

using VB.NET scripting in grasshopper, we were able to loop grasshopper definitions on large sets of files. We ran it on a sample batch of 500 different streets, but only 150 are shown in this video. So in the end, we actually have 500 3dm files, referenced geospatially, with 3d geometry on layers for different materials and object types. To make the video, we exported thousands of illustrator files and used applescript and indesign to turn them into 5,100 layered jpegs.

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