Lesley McCoy - Arch 6536 - Project Two

Figure 00: Finished Model

For Project 2, I continued working on the Kolumba Art Museum in Germany.  

Figure 0:   Finished Model showing the area of the building on which I worked

I focused on these 4 panels.  I used the Dynamo add in application for Revit to make a random pattern of solid bricks and glass bricks.

Figure 1:   Mass Model with 1/2 Step Divided Surface

I began by using the divide surface tool in my Revit Mass Model on each of the 4 panels that I wanted to manipulate.  I used the ½ step surface.  The 2 surfaces on the front of the building have 54 vertical divisions and 54 horizontal divisions.  The 2 surfaces on the side of the building have 54 vertical divisions and 108 horizontal divisions.

Figure 2:   Panel Family

I made an adaptive component panel family for the surface that is extruded the depth of the bricks.  As you can see here, the vertical divisions of this family have a one to one relationship with the divided surface in the main model.  For the horizontal divisions, however, each component takes up 2 spaces horizontally

Figure 3:   Loaded Panel Family into Mass Model

Next, I loaded my panel family into my mass model

Figure 4:   Front Wall Excel

I made an Excel File for the front two panels.  There are 54 rows, and 27 columns, because as I mentioned before, each component takes up 2 spaces horizontally.  Each cell contains a zero or a one.  I used the randbetween function in excel to provide a random pattern of ones and zeros.

When I finished my excel file, I saved it as a CSV file.

Figure 5:   Materials in Revit

The two materials I used for the bricks are called Glass and Kolumba Stone.

Figure 6:   Dynamo with materials and CSV

In Dynamo, I sent Kolumba Stone to the index 0 and Glass to the index 1.

I also loaded in the CSV file for the front of the building.

Figure 7:   Dynamo with entire front panel code

Here you can see the code for the front two panels.  This image shows the top divided surface selected

Figure 8:   Dynamo with entire front panel code with bottom panel

This image shows the bottom divided surface selected

Figure 9:   Side Wall Excel

I made another Excel File for the side two panels.  There are 54 rows, and 54 columns, because as I mentioned before, each component takes up 2 spaces horizontally.  When I finished this excel file, I saved it as another CSV file.

Figure 10:   Dynamo with materials and CSV

In Dynamo, I basically used the same code for the side panels as the front panels.  However, the CSV file is different.

Figure 11:   Dynamo with entire side panel code

The code block is also different.

Figure 12:   Dynamo with entire side panel code with bottom panel

Again, first the top panel was connected from the elements to the list, and then the bottom divided surface selected.

Figure 13:   All of the Dynamo Code

Here, we can see all of the Dynamo Code.  The code for the front 2 panels is on the left and the code for the side 2 panels is on the right.

Figure 14:   All of the Panels in the Mass Model

This shows all of the panels in the Mass Model with the random brick and glass pattern

Figure 15:   Final Project

Here we see all of the panels with the random pattern loaded into the project file.

Project Video:

Lesley McCoy - Arch 653 - Project One

1. Description

I chose to model the Kolumba Art Museum in Cologne, Germany.  This building was renovated recently, Peter Zumthor designed the renovations.  

The facade of the Kolumba Art Museum incorporates a pattern of bricks and voids.  The pattern appears to be irregular at first look, but after I studied it for awhile, I found a repeated pattern.  

Figure 1 shows the overall pattern of bricks and voids for some of the exterior walls of the Kolumba Museum.  The semi random pattern of voids allows light to come into the building in interesting ways.

Figure 1

Figure 2 highlights (with a pink box) the 9 pieces that make up the part of the wall that repeats.

Figure 2

Figure 3 shows a close up diagram of the bricks and voids that are repeated.

Figure 3

The following equations represent the sizes of each brick piece and each void piece in the pattern.  For this building, t (the height) remains constant.  I labeled another variable k, and in the instance of this building, k = t.  However, to change the spacing of the bricks and voids, the equations for k could change by a scale factor.  I made a parametric family that contained brick 2, brick 3, brick 5, brick 7, and brick 9.  Each brick has a height, width, and depth parameter.  Voids 4, 6, and 8 were also given parameters between the bricks.

t = 2”     k = t

Void 1 Height = t

Void 1 Width = 2k

Brick 2 Height = t

Brick 2 Width = k

Brick 3 Height = t

Brick 3 Width = 6k

Void 4 Height = t

Void 4 Width = 2k

Brick 5 Height = t

Brick 5 Width = 6k

Void 6 Height = t

Void 6 Width = k

Brick 7 Height = t

Brick 7 Width = k

Void 8 Height = t

Void 8 Width = k

Brick 9 Height = t

Brick 9 Width = 6k

I created a divided surface within my mass model in the space where this pattern would be contained.  The divided surface was made of horizontal lines spaced 2 inches apart, the height of the bricks.  I then denoted with model lines on the first 8 rows where each brick family pattern would start.  After reloading the mass model into the project, I loaded the brick family into the project as well and began arraying it across, starting each row in the appropriate spot.

Figure 4 shows the repeated pattern shifted over a different amount on each following row. 

Figure 4

Since the pattern repeats vertically every 8 rows, I made 8 rows and then arrayed them down to the bottom of the opening.

Figure 5 shows how the pattern repeats vertically every 8 rows down.  The red section is the same as the yellow and blue sections.

Figure 5

I believe this process would have been easier if there were more options within the divide surface tool.  When I tried to create a divided surface on the rest of the building to correspond to the bricks on the facade, the tool would not allow me to make horizontal lines spaced at 2 inches apart.  The smallest distance between the horizontal lines that it allowed me to create was about 5 inches.  To make the appearance that the bricks lined up on the facade between the solid areas of the building and the places with the brick void pattern, I created a texture using an image of the bricks on the building.  I scaled the image in Photoshop and then loaded it as a material and applied it to the surface.


2. Rendering 1

3. Rendering 2

4. Screenshot 1 - Corresponds directly to the original building

5. Screenshot 2 - Narrower bricks to create wider voids

6. Screenshot 3 - Some bricks shorter, changes the appearance of the pattern

7. Screenshot 4 - Longer bricks, creating smaller voids

8. Project Movie