Week 10 - Assignment 3

Progress

I decided to continue on with my Assignment 1/2 concept and begin to evolve it into a realistic approach and application into the physical world, given proper structural constraints.

My process was to first take my original contoured lines (which can be seen in earlier posts), and then to use these individual pipelines in a way which creates a space according to their deformation and elevation. The thought behind this is directly related to Assignment 1, where I had created contour lines from a Loft (which can reflect the landscape of a Site Plan). 

In this stage of my progress, I have managed to make a dynamic relationship between the deformation of the landscape and the overall shape of the building, as the actual land characteristics are represented through the height of each tower, and the XY dimensions of each floor.

 These pictures show the first stage of my assignment, developing the shape of my structure, which will be placed within Site A: The Toaster which fronts onto the Sydney Waterscape. I hope to use this mixture of terrains and transition from parklands to urban development to water as a fairly interesting component of my surrounding, which as explained previously, directly effects the form of the structure.

 A test render of some levels, showing the pipes which connect each floor with its awning above.

Week 5 - Assignment 1 Final Submission

Week 4 - Progress

My steps through Grasshopper to create my final product are becoming more apparent and clear as to the context of Experimental Modelling. I can see the ability that Grasshopper and parametric modelling software bestows, and am starting to enjoy it. It takes a lot of time to wrap my head around certain nodes within Grasshopper, as it is completely conceptual at times and requires some perseverance to see some random numbers and shapes turn into some masterpieces. 

Here is my Grasshopper Flow Chart at present. It is a bit messy, but I will clean that up in due time.

 

A rough guideline of what my iterations will focus on.

 

Some iterations in 3DS MAX.

Playing around with some cool textures in 3DS MAX to see which ones will complement my design the best.

Week 3 : Draft Poster

This is just a draft poster of my desired layout for my final poster and assignment due next week. I want to keep the colour scheme fairly simple, to emphasise the power of contour lines.

Week 2 : Sources of Information (Online Journals)

I managed to find a few journals that explore different aspects of contours.

The first journal is for landscape architects, and begins to understand the nature of contours and how they are formed in a natural environment.

Contours For Landscape Architects

This second online journal, by Brigham Young University, is a much more complex and in-depth mathematical perspective of contours, and the different context in which contours can be applied. They show contours displayed through landscapes and anatomical models. 

http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCcQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fciteseerx.ist.psu.edu%2Fviewdoc%2Fdownload%3Fdoi%3D10.1.1.49.1158%26rep%3Drep1%26type%3Dpdf&ei=-kVpT-acJsWiiAeaw9ChCg&usg=AFQjCNHUHytA5kavdnAkpPlW0cKCuhzLbQ

Week 2 : Sketches

These are some sketches that try and convey my concept of contours and layering, from which I can extract some key ideas and try to re-create them in Grasshopper.

Week 2 : Relevant Tutorials

Towers

The closest tutorial I have found at the moment that can assist me with my contours is this;

Rhino Grasshopper - Tower (1/2) - Massing - Video Tutorial

It creates layers, or wafers, from which I will attempt to modify to my concept.

Also, although this doesn't exactly use grasshopper, I know there is a node which I can use for contours that does a similar function to this;