I was recently asked to create a parametric model to apply a curved timber structural arrangement on any surface. Rhino + Grasshopper + C# script turned out to be the perfect tool.
I recently helped the artist Sam Griffin model and fabricate two Rubin’s vases. They are on display until 24th April at Gallery Vela (London).
Can you recognise the profiles?
Despite being around for over 80 years there is probably no better way to construct and rationalise a massive dome.
They always have great names too, for example - Biosphere, Cinesphere and Climatron.
Some images of experiments in Java and Rhino (using Jon Mirtschin’s Geometry Gym plug-in – http://geometrygym.blogspot.co.uk/).
Andreas Bak, Marylee Scott and I created this scale model last year.
Design sequence:
1. Java form-finding application.
2. Information exported to Grasshopper where a structural model was built and automatically sent to structural analysis (using the Robot API).
3. Data from analysis used to define the depth of the structural members. Grasshopper then used to calculated all self-intersections.
4. Rhino Nest used to create a cutting pattern.
5. Laser cutting.
6. Gluing.
7. Load testing.
I am presenting my thesis next week. Added iso-surfaces for an extra element of interest (thanks to Paul Bourke and Karsten Schmidt for previous C and Java implementations which were used).
Coming soon – video of the whole process from gas particles filling a volume under brownian motion and collisions, “cooling” to a liquid where they can form temporary bonds with their neighbours to form tetrahedrons and then “freezing” to a solid. Once solid – gravity, external forces and supports are applied and the member stresses are recorded and used in a “freeze-thaw” optimisation step. This step allows the internal structure to move into a more efficient arrangement depending on its intended use. Volumes to be filled can be any shape with any number of internal voids.
Also to be uploaded soon – my thesis which may explain the process more clearly.
It is definitely one, we’ll see about the other two.
“With free form, what you have got to realise is that every point of curvature is a structural opportunity, and thats why its so important to work together now. The danger is that if we stick with assumptions of structure as they are, and architects do not try to understand new structural possibilities, you end up with post-and-beam logic underpinning free form, and you are not getting anywhere then.”
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Yup
