Gothic Component Arrayed on the Site Path

The Gothic component has been successfully arrayed upon the building path within the site. There is but one remaining issue that I will remove after import into Maya. The long horizontal stalactites occur when the width of a voronoi cell side is shorter than that of the setting for the width of the Gothic pillar. I will just remove these sides after importation into Maya and replace with an appropriate enclosing piece of geometry.

PATH MAKING ALGORITHM

The path making algorithm has been fully implemented within a voronoi field. You can see 16 different paths run within the same voronoi field structure. Perspective shots of one example have been included below.

Single Cell Component Variation

In order to support more complex forms of pathways within the exoskeleton, the archway component needed to be rebuilt as a composition of two half arcs that meet up in the middle along the pathway.

The original formation of the curve network was an arch pathway starting from any chosen side of a voronoi going to any other side of the voronoi cell. In the case of a simple path, the cell side indexes could be split up into two basic types of forms, 2 openings, and 2 tracks to guide the perimeter of the lofted arches. In this case the left side of an arch was consistent in its placement along a particular track, and the right was equally consistent along the other track.

Once you introduce a third opening to create branching within the circulation network, a third track must emerge seamlessly from the single continuous surface defined by these perimeter curves. The arches were split in order to facilitate the branching within the circulation.

EXAMPLE 1


In the new component, a line is drawn from the cell origin at height to the top of each cell opening to create a series of points where the 1/2 arches can meet up.


Then the remaining perimeter lines of the voronoi cell on one side are similarly prepared to be the originating points of the first set of 1/2 arches.


Likewise, a track of an equal iteration of points is arrayed along the opposite side, regardless of the relative length of these constituent edge lines.


Finally, the half arches are arrayed only the three tracks to create the enclosure for this particular voronoi cell.

EXAMPLE 2

However, this system of cellular construction can not be used in the case when openings arise on adjacent edges of the voronoi cell.


Here there is no perimeter edge to array the track for this half of the circulation in this simple example.


Instead an arch is arrayed from the point between the two openings to the cell origin point at height.


As normal, tracking is laid on the other side.


And then half arches are arrayed in the same fashion as the previous example.

LIBRARY OF ALL POSSIBLE CONDITIONS WITHIN THE SAME CELL DEFINITIONS
I went on to create 7 different examples of opening/tracking array conditions upon the same voronoi cell base with six sides to take account of as many different ways the data would need to be handled in the parametric modeler.

1 openings - x_____
Here in this image you can see the cell with a simple opening and no other entry or exit to the space. Here you can see in plan that the smooth line of the two halves of the constiuent arches deviates on the back side of the cell as they get farther from the opening. This was necessary to accomodate the two halves of the tracking geometry. This smooth transition from continuous arches to a more bifurcated geometry may create opportunities for more complex geometric and circulatory relationships further on in the development.

2 openings - x_x___
This is the first example in the explanation above. Two openings separated by open tracks on both sides of the circulatory path.

2 openings - xx____
This is the second example from above with adjacent opening with no track on one side and an open track on the other.

3 openings - x_x_x_
Here is the first example containing 3 openings for which the original component reconstruction was required. In the middle of two sides of a simple pathway, a third side needs to emerge from the middle within the continuous framework of the exoskeleton to create branching.

3 openings - x_xx__
3 openings with both closed and open track conditions between openings.

3 openings - xxx___
3 openings with only closed track conditions between openings.

6 openings - xxxxxx
Al sides open and ready for connection to adjacent cells containing only closed track conditions between openings.

model fabrication plans

Here is the section of the partial parametric model that will be fabricated as a physical model. It gives a clear sense of the exoskeleton ribs fitting within the cellular structure of the site parsing. The model will be a dual surface construction of mylar over stiff bristol ribs beneath of somewhat diminished dimensions to give the exoskeleton structural form, yet still allow for dynamic movement.

parametric model process

This is the update to my progress on the parametric model. Most pathways have been resolved except for a few problem areas, creating a coral like lattice work of lobster inspired exoskeletons.

PARAMETRIC MODEL PROGRESS

Having gotten my feet wet and created a digital model of a prawn in GC using static data points, the task of the weekend was to rewrite the GC script based upon this geometry, but with the added sophistication of the internal relationships distilled into as few independent characteristics upon which all other forms could be determined via reference. I was able to reduce the complexity to 5 necessary defining parameters:


- the radius of the circumcircle to the poles of the main lateral axis of the exoskeleton where the dynamic and static enclosure/support systems meet
- the angle between those points and the circumcenter
- tail length
- head length
- head height

All other dimensions and forms can be related to these parameters through a derivation of proportion, orientation, location, etc. Interestingly though, in producing this logically concise version of the geometry, I noticed that the same two common proportions kept popping in the code necessary to generate the secondary forms. 1//7 and 1/11. As I have meticulously based both my physical and digital models on the forms found in nature, this is quite insightful and possibly might hold some potential for exploitation. They are both prime numbers and therefore can not be related harmonically. Is there some particular advantage to this unique condition, or perhaps any special utility in consistently relating elements by this general proportion within differing orders of magnitude in the same structure?

NEXT STEPS
Clearly the next step is to investigate the importance and possibilities of these derivative characteristics of the geometry through an improvisation of implementation as earlier conducted with the voronoi cell structure. To do this, I will need to polish up the script of my first draft of the parametric solution to make these proportions live, and to hunt down any other mathematically significant relationships not yet parsed.

Now that I have a fully parametric model, I can begin to place the geometry in differing partial compositions within a text voronoi field of cells to investigate the next step in translating these relationships from the natural world to the architectural one.

Third, it's time to get a retracting tail joing mocked up in GC.

OVERLAP INVESTIGATION

I started thinking of other mechanical systems that take advantage of overlap to create dynamically moving curved form for specific geometric intent.



In particular I started to look at mechanics of metal wrist watch bands. All dynamically change shape in order to fit smartly with the vast array of possible different wrists, and some even make use of springs to stretch in ways that may or may not be similar to the mechanics of the prawn exoskeleton.


My research turned up a collector's item very much valued within the community of time-piece enthusiasts from the 70s named the Omega Megasonic Lobster. Unlike the more common implementation of the watch band that weaves spokes between possibly several rows, but always more than one, the lobster watch band contains only one row and moves very similarly on one axis to the lobster prawn tail.

Of course I will never be able to afford the cost necessary to acquire one of the limited number remaining in circulation, but thankfully the internet is replete with images.