Generating a curved surface for louvers?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Damon on October 6, 2014 at 9:55am

Not to be difficult or verge into semantics, but I'd argue that the surface you've posted is anything but random. I'm sure there are a lot of factors and conditions that you need to satisfy for your project, or at least a conceptual basis for why you'd want a curvy surface in the first place. I'd suggest finding/inventing reasons for the surface to be curvy that have direct implications on it's shape. That way you can use GH or other tools to build those reasons into parameters and thus create a meaningful shape. Once you have your reasons, then I'm sure people on this forum could help you develop a GH definition.

That said, here's one very, very rough algorithm for doing what you actually asked:

- Start with a grid of points.

- Move each point in the Z direction using a Random component (or some other criteria). 

- Create an interpolated curve through each row of points.

- Loft the curves to create a surface.

If you are interested in what I said at first, read on and let me give you examples to further explain what I'm suggesting. First, the example you show: The text gives a reason for the curvilinear ceiling. To demonstrate the "digital genesis and the seamless fabrication logic" says to me they wanted to create a compositional/aesthetic form that couldn't easily be done using traditional techniques as a showcase of this fabrication process. I'd be OK with this and it would perhaps even justify a random generation of the ceiling, because the importance of the actual form of the ceiling is not the point. It just has to be curvilinear. Again, though, looking at the images it is anything but random.

Another example might be to leverage the programmatic elements of the space or spaces. The ceiling you show touches down at a column, but it could be used dramatically to divide the spaces into various programmatic spaces. That would give you some guiding lines to follow with your setting-out.

A third example might be the systems--lighting, ventilation, etc. If this was a museum, perhaps you have strict mechanical requirements and therefore a lot of duct work and vents, lighting, and even acoustical requirements. The fins could undulate to create different depths for various systems.

Fourth example, without going into it, could be metaphoric. The building is a ferry terminal, so you want the ceiling to mimic real waves or wave interference. Or it's a museum of sound. Or a car dealership that wants to evoke speed. Or a contemporary reinterpretation of a Gothic church.

Each of these examples introduces things that could become parameters to control the surface and therefore go beyond a random surface generator.

Permalink Reply by Sal Jurien on October 6, 2014 at 11:22am

Thanks Damon for your great response. If I understand your post correctly, you are interested in (parametric) elements or information which can be used to generate/  shape the curved surface. I shall try to explain myself here.

The architectural assignment gave me an existing church that needs to be renovated into a local community center which accommodates some facilities. The building is located south of a enormous green park. For my design concept I've chosen to see the church as the "tree roots" of this green zone, and that's why I want to literally give the building facade an organic shape like in the pictures. The organic facade got me indeed interested because it showcases new architectural elements which can't be easily done using the traditional building methods.  To show you where I'm at, I add some pictures of it. The work has been done in Google SU. 

In the church will be placed a secondary independent volume which is self bearing and has all lightning and ventilation placed in the floors and ceilings. The ground floor of the new building has  three glass entrances connecting to the hallway. Perhaps the entrances can be used to set parametric points?

Yesturday I came across a video of a guy using points to create a morphology wich looks very organic to me. See URL https://www.flickr.com/photos/25625191@N03/3527810287/ . Perhaps it would be possible to use GH to generate similar lines from parameter points to generate the curved lines. Then these use curves to generate the surface like a loft ?  Please see my quick concept sketch below. 

I'm looking forward for your reaction!

Thanks,

Sal

Permalink Reply by Damon on October 6, 2014 at 12:21pm

Sal,

You have a good place to start. Given my examples, I'd say that you fall into the metaphoric category. This will give you a lot of flexibility in making your project look the way you want. Unfortunately, the flip side of that is you aren't setting yourself up with many constraints. That might make it harder to find a direction.

The location of the entrances could very well be parametric points, definitely. And your sketch reminds me of vector field diagrams. One place to start might be with the flowL plugin: http://utos.blogspot.com/2011/07/gh-plugin-to-visualize-vectorfield.... Or Daniel Piker's work on Rheotomic Surfaces: http://spacesymmetrystructure.wordpress.com/rheotomic-surfaces/.

Given a series of points, you could create a vector field that defines the curves, at least in two dimensions.

Since it is an existing building and a church to boot, you could get inspiration from that directly. Personally, I'd avoid using "organic" forms to try to imply nature. Often, organic forms look quite alien to me, but that's just one opinion.

For example, and I diverge from giving GH advice to giving pedagogic advice, you might flip your concept: instead of the building being the roots of the forest, let the forest reclaim the building. The exterior could become a scaffolding for plants that invade the interior through the three entrances. From then entrances "veins" and "roots" start to grow into the space creating curvilinear forms that envelope the space. For that, I'd look into a more iterative or recursive type of script that does. Here's a random link that just glancing at it looks like the direction I'm suggesting: http://all-2.blogspot.com/2012/06/dia-scripting-2011.html.

Those are my thoughts. Hope some of them are helpful.

Best,

Damon

Permalink Reply by Sal Jurien on October 6, 2014 at 1:42pm

Thanks for your help Damon. The flowL plugin looks very promising, and I will try it out tomorrow and let you know!

I understand your advice on the concept itself, I totally agree on it too. It's just that because of the very high standards for renewable energy and building materials, the design is where it's at now. The standards leave very few to no room at all for organic shapes, that's why the reference project from my first post drown my attention.

Besides the assignment from school has to be completely drawn so it can be build the next day (don't know what it's called in English). The projects you show from AL_TU are all very conceptual and focused on researching different design possibilities. Given my very limited time span, I can't afford taking all the time to develop the best concept out there, because then I get in trouble later.

Thanks,

Sal