Parametric Modeling Diagram -Project 1

Project 1: Parametric Modeling

1. Parametric Mass Modeling

In this step, what I want to do is figuring out the design logic of this project and creates it by the mass model in Revit. The Seattle Central Library has a complex architectural design but also a clear logic in it: it is formed by five different functional parts that can come together as a whole volume. Each part can be defined with two different profiles both on top and bottom, which can be created using loft (create forms). The Width and Length of each profile can be controlled by parameters; Different parts’ position can be controlled by different X and Y axis Movement parameters; also the Heights parameters can control the vertical distance between functional parts.

First, using reference lines create each level. The length and width are controlled by parameters.

There are six horizontal levels in different elevations. They are defined with a parametric height value between each two of them. 

Then I moved different levels horizontally to get the slope form of the building. This slope was controlled using Distance parameter (both in X and Y axis) between different levels.

At the end, by using Create Form as one of the tools for making forms, the building model was lifted by six levels. Then I created some additional parts of the building, connecting them to the whole building also by using the Create Form button.

2. Creating Parametric Façade

Secondly, we need to create the façade pattern of the building. The façade of this project used curtain wall system with a consistent pattern throughout the whole building. The following pictures below shows the rhomboid pattern grid that I created with a rectangular frame and a glass panel on it; the width and length of the frame are controlled by different parameters.

And then, I applied the façade pattern to the mass model, modified the density and size respectively to get a best form. 

3. Creating Project file and rendering

Finally, output the mass model with the curtain wall pattern to a new Revit Project File. Creating the floors panels by using the levels’ height which created in the elevation views. Then I create the roof material and the roads and trees around the building. At last, set and modify several 3d view cameras in the building to render.

Parametric Modeling Diagram ARCH 653 : Seattle Central Library

Parametric Modeling Diagram 

ARCH 653 : Seattle Central Library

he Seattle Central Library redefines the library as an institution no longer exclusively dedicated to the book, but as an information store where all potent forms of media—new and old—are presented equally and legibly. In an age where information can be accessed anywhere, it is the simultaneity of all media and, more importantly, the curatorship of their content that will make the library vital.

Flexibility in contemporary libraries is conceived as the creation of generic floors on which almost any activity can occur. Programs are not separated, rooms or individual spaces not given unique characters. In practice, this means that bookcases define generous (though nondescript) reading areas on opening day, but, through the collection’s relentless expansion, inevitably come to encroach on the public space. Ultimately, in this form of flexibility, the library strangles the very attractions that differentiate it from other information resources.

Instead of its current ambiguous flexibility, the library could cultivate a more refined approach by organizing itself into spatial compartments, each dedicated to, and equipped for, specific duties. Tailored flexibility remains possible within each compartment, but without the threat of one section hindering the others.

Our first operation was to “comb” and consolidate the library’s apparently ungovernable proliferation of programs and media. By combining like with like, we identified programmatic clusters: five of stability and four of instability.

Each platform is a programmatic cluster that is architecturally defined and equipped for maximum, dedicated performance. Because each platform is designed for a unique purpose, their size, flexibility, circulation, palette, structure, and MEP vary.

The spaces in between the platforms function as trading floors where librarians inform and stimulate, where the interface between the different platforms is organized—spaces for work, interaction, and play.

By genetically modifying the superposition of floors in the typical American high rise, a building emerges that is at the same time sensitive (the geometry provides shade or unusual quantities of daylight where desirable), contextual (each side reacts differently to specific urban conditions or desired views), iconic.

The problem of traditional library organization is flatness. Departments are organized according to floor plans. Each floor is discreet; the unpredictable fits of growth and contraction in certain sections are, theoretically, contained within a single floor.

In 1920, the Seattle Public Library had no classification for Computer Science; by 1990 the section had exploded. As collections unpredictably swell, materials are dissociated from their categories. Excess materials are put in the basement, moved to off-site storage, or become squatters of another, totally unrelated department.

The Book Spiral implies a reclamation of the much-compromised Dewey Decimal System. By arranging the collection in a continuous ribbon—running from 000 to 999—the subjects form a coexistence that approaches the organic; each evolves relative to the others, occupying more or less space on the ribbon, but never forcing a rupture.

Reference: Archdaily     http://www.archdaily.com/11651/seattle-central-library-oma-lmn/