In preperation for the upcoming class I am helping teach for Session B at GSAPP, entitled Integrated Parametric Delivery with Mark Green, I have been working on workflows between Rhino, Tsplines, Evolute Tools, and Autodesk Revit such that hyper organic, fluid and complex forms can be rationalized, documented, and designed with economy and fabrication in mind during the design process rather than downstream. This is in line with many of my other endeavors, which seek to bring information, data, and analysis seamlessly into the conceptual design phases, thus liberating and empowering the designer to explore, iterate and test ideas not just more quickly, but more substantiated in what is feasible. This kind of thinking also suggests that the architectural designer must engage with other disciplines more closely.
These images are some of the initial tests at the beginning of the workflow, mainly with Autodesk Tsplines technology, which is in my opinion a few steps beyond any other Nurbs or Mesh modeler for complex organic geometry out there. The next steps will be to integrate evolute tools, a software that uses a complex algorithm to mesh, adjust, and rationalize any geometry into planar quads, and thus creating an object that is easily fabricated. This in turn is sent to Revit, which quickly can generate schedules, cost, and shop drawings. The final step in this process would be to pull in some pro formas from excel, which can interface with both Rhino and Revit and thus completing the recursive workflow cycle.
Stay tuned for more.
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