Geometry is at the very core of architectural design—from the very early conceptual form finding to the more detailed assembly and construction. In prac¬tice, architecture designers are showing an increasing interest in being able to compute and fabricate non-simple and sometimes intricate geometric forms.

(Right) Mercedes Benz Museum, UN Studio, Stuttgart

Contemporary approaches to modeling architectural geometry are computational—this is reflected in designers wanting much more parametric control over the generative process; in turn, this enhances the efficiency with which they can navigate design variations, analyze design artifacts and explore design manifestations.

(Right) Roof of the Olympic Stadium in Munich, Germany
[A minimal surface]

Constructing geometry both parametrically and computationally poses challenges for the designer—particularly to those with little formal geometry training; more so—when required to tackle evolving issues between complex geometry and architecture. There is a compelling and emerging need to better understand concepts that support geometric constructions—to develop (new) computational schemes that can intelligently or ably assist designers in managing geometry data and propagating designs.

(Right) London City Hall, Norman Foster and Partners

This is an introductory course to parametric modeling.  The course has no prerequisites.

This year the course is being offered in two parts each as a mini-course.  Ramesh will instruct the first part of the course, and Josh, lead a project for the second part of the course.  The course will consist of lectures, computer cluster instruction and work/instruction in the digital fabrication (dFab) lab

The first part of the course will introduce:

The second part of the course will reinforce the above fundamentals and introduce students to parametric work flows in digital fabrication:

For practical reasons, the course uses Rhinoceros 5 and Grasshopper and the following add-ons: Hoopsnake, ghPython, Weaverbird, Kangaroo, Firefly, gHowl, Galapagos, Geometry Gym, and Karamba

The course is a pre-requisite for a revised extended scripting course to be offered in the Spring Semester.

Josh Bard will separately supply a more detailed project description for the second half of this course.

Course Topics __________________

Part I — The Basics

The topics covered in the first mini are:

Basics of geometric modeling: coordinates and transformations Surface Construction: Freeform curves to surfaces Surface Development: surface offsets, sweeping and evolutions Deformations Discretization: Converting surfaces to meshes Digital Prototyping and Fabrication, Geometry Reconstruction Other topics Tessellations

Surface Refinement

Part II — Drawn Out

This part deals with parametric techniques for representing constructing architectural space.

Description —

Anamorphic projection is a long-standing representational technique closely linked to the abstracting methodologies of perspectival construction. Historically, anamorphosis was used to cloak discursive content – often erotic or political in nature – within an image. The illusion was only to be revealed from a privileged vantage point (e.g. a throne). The technique continues to fascinate, and also suggests new currency for architects, less as a strategy for concealing content or visual trickery and more as a method for disrupting spatial presuppositions thereby pushing physical space to the foreground of perception amidst our overwhelmingly technologically mediated experience. The use of parametric modeling software to study projection also suggests the possibility of multiple viewpoints within a spatial continuum as opposed to a singular privileged view.

Design Problem —

In teams, students will construct a parametric drawing machine based on historic modes of projection in visual representation. Students will use these parametric machines to construct material projections in physical space that are legible from multiple viewpoints.

Each part has requirements contributing equally to the final grade.

• (Part I)  Three modeling assignments
• (Part II) Project