Need Help ASAP for a research proposal on grasshopper

Hi all

I was wondering if anyone here could suggest and give some directions on a research topic about GH.

I am now studying in undergrad degree (3rd year) and only learn GH for about 2 months. I am now enrolling in a research-based subject which its requirement is to investigate and write 5000 words of report or essay on topics such as arch history, sustainable arch , urban design and architectural computing.

As i am teaching myself GH , i have proposed to the unit chair of the subject whether it's possible to investigate and do a research on GH and use it as part of the unit assessment, and he is ok with the idea.

As I have never done this sort of research-based unit before , and never have a chance to sit down and talk the scope of works with him (unit chair). I am now a bit lost and need to come up with something, directionwise, before tomorrow night which is the last day to withdraw the subject.

It's impossible to contact my unit chair during the weekend and I would like you guys( which i think some of you are academic people or lecturers) to suggest me on

1. What's scope of work should my research cover , it's a 10 weeks and 5000 words projects , in my case it could be less given my result would be some images as well as the report ?

2. My initial thought of the topic and the result of this research would be

what is GH
how to use it......go through some basic operation ?
the result , create and illustrate the complex form that GH can produce , images of model
other application .....

3. I am interested in voronoi diagram , is it possible to investigate this and maybe come up with some voronoi forms for my final submission , is 10-11 weeks enough ?, given that i've only known GH for 2 months and never learnt voronoi before. It's too ambitious isnt it.

4. Given that my resource would be mainly from internet , what is the possibility of this project get done in 10 weeks ?

5. Any suggestion.

Thank you very much

Punkhead

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Luis Fraguada on November 21, 2009 at 3:34am

Hello punkhead,
This will be a very subjective reply...
I would personally stay away from voronoi, why would that interest you? There are billions of examples of people implementing this ... I guess maybe you could actually attemp to use it in an interesting way...

I stress to my students that they should acknowledge their efforts in designing associativity. You could do research on comparing design processes with and without GH... On say, a simple house.

Permalink Reply by punkhead on November 21, 2009 at 4:30am

Luis , thank you for your reply from your comment

"I stress to my students that they should acknowledge their efforts in designing associativity. You could do research on comparing design processes with and without GH... On say, a simple house."

I find your suggestion interesting, but only having learnt GH for 2 months i dont think i can produce that kind of work in 10 weeks.

Again, my whole point of doing this research on this GH is that , not only i can spend my time learning GH which i normally do most of my spare time, but i could also gain the credit point from the subject that i am enrolling in. From the student point of view this is perfect.

Luis, if you have more suggestions , please .....it would be much appreciated.

PS. when you first started using GH , what did you learn and what did you make out of GH in your first 10 weeks?

Permalink Reply by David Rutten on November 21, 2009 at 4:41am

Hi Punkhead,

when I think about "learning how to use Grasshopper", I don't really associate that with "research".

If I had to research something in the field of architectural computing, with a focus on Grasshopper, I'd probably research how people use the tools. For example; take a well known architectural shape and make algorithms that duplicate this shape in a number of languages (written English, drawn images, RhinoScript, MEL, AutoLISP, Grasshopper etc. etc.), then compare these different implementations. Which approach allows you to achieve the goal with least steps? Which representation can be most easily explained to others? Which can be most easily changed? and so on and so forth.

Voronoi diagrams are pretty mundane these days. Not that long ago only the best and brightest could use them for architectural purposes, but now everyone who is smart enough to install a plugin can.

One of the truly useful features of Grasshopper (and -of course- programming in general) over traditional approaches is that it can handle vast amounts of data. Given a couple of hours I can create a Voronoi diagram for 500 points by hand, but I would be hard pressed to manually evaluate the year-average of sun light contribution on every vertex of a 10000 point mesh.

If you're looking to do something reasonably innovative (and I think 10~11 weeks is plenty of time for that), I have yet to see someone do 3D isovist data maps of architectural models. I think Grasshopper can be used to at least aid in researching isovist properties of platonic, organic and custom volumes.

Or... a lot of people worry about shadow-casting properties of building envelopes, but nobody seems to be interested in solar reflection via windows and other reflective surfaces.

Or... given the average dioptre of the human eye, what can we say about the level of detail that is perceivable on every square unit of the facade of a 50 story building?

Or... how are grooves in a floor, wall or facade surface perceived as one walks past them? Or take it even further and research the rate of change of visual properties of a bas-relief surface.

--
David Rutten
david@mcneel.com
Poprad, Slovakia

Permalink Reply by taz on November 22, 2009 at 12:54pm