Aspire Tower - Visual Programming with Dynamo

FINAL PROJECT – BIM USING REVIT DYNAMO

The final project focuses on methods to implement visual programming using Revit Dynamo. The parametric models created in Project 1 are visually enhanced using Dynamo, another feature offered by Revit. In this project, I have primarily focused on three main portions:

• ·         Solar Coloring of external façade driven by sun path
• ·         Panel Surface Coloring
• ·         Making instance parameters of curtain panels to be driven by sun path

SOLAR COLORING OF EXTERNAL FAÇADE

In this part of the project, I have tried to change the color of the external façade pattern based on sun path. Dynamo is used to get the current sun settings and then make the color of the external curtain wall pattern to be driven by it.

The first step was to read the curtain panels from the Revit project into the dynamo program. To achieve this, node “family types” is introduced in the program which reads the curtain wall pattern. Three curtain panels are read using this node. Curtain Panel 1 exterior, curtain panel 2 and curtain panel 3 created in first project are read into dynamo.

The Solar Coloring for the above three mentioned follows similar procedure in Dynamo. However, the Dynamo program is split into two parts. The first part considers the solar coloring of curtain panel 1 exterior and the second considers the solar coloring of curtain panel 2 and curtain panel 3. The main reason behind this was to make the solar coloring of panels 2 and 3 to be always yellow in color, irrespective of the time of the day. This effect was considered primarily due to the existence of the torch, which is considered to radiate a yellow lighting effect on these panels. The dynamo coding for these two parts is very similar with the only change being that the time span for panels 2 and 3 is increased by 9 hours to account for the time difference and the time is checked in dynamo to ensure that yellow coloring is achieved. This part is illustrated in the figure below. The code tends to add 9 hours to the current time and then checks whether the current time is within the time indicated from the Dynamo code. Once this is checked, color for these panels is assigned by using the “Color by ARGB” node to the panels 2 and 3.

Figure 1: Time adjustment and checking for time

Assigning colors (general process for panels 1, 2 and 3)

1. The first step is to read all the curtain panel elements by using the “Family Types” and “All Elements of Family Type” node.

Figure 2: Reading the family types and creation of surfaces

2. This is followed by the creation of surfaces and finding the normal to the surface by using the “Surface. Normal at parameter” node. 0.5 assigned to this node considers the center point of the surface.

Figure 3: Finding surface normal and vector dot product

3. Next step, is to get the Sun Settings and then calculate the vector dot product between the sun direction and the surface normal. Figure 3 also illustrates the use of Remap Range to get these values of dot products into the range of 0 to 1. This is because to facilitate the input for the “Color Range” node which only accepts values between 0 to 1

4. The next step is to use these remapped values and assign colors to the respective family types. “Color by ARGB” is used to get the color range and then “Element Override color in view” can be used to overwrite the element color.

Figure 4: Overwriting family type colors depending on sun path.

The creation of solar coloring panels for 2 and 3 also follows the similar procedure with the only change being that the curtain panels are read into a list. This list is then used to generate surfaces. The steps following this remains the same as outlined above.

Figure 5: Creation of list for panels 2 and 3 followed by subsequent coloring

The whole dynamo code for the panels 2 and 3 coloring are s shown below.

Figure 6: Whole dynamo code for panels 2 and 3 coloring

VISUAL RESULTS

After execution of the dynamo code, the output visual results obtained were as follows. First figure shows the solar coloring at 8 PM and the second shows the solar coloring at 2:45 PM.

Result 1: Panel Coloring at 8 PM

Result 2: Panel Coloring at 2:45 PM

PANEL SURFACE COLORING

This part of the project focuses on assigning random colors to the surfaces of curtain panels 1 exterior, 2 and 3. Thus, this part required modification of the curtain pattern families for 1,2 and 3 in order to facilitate this. To achieve this, four different materials were created and then the number of panels of each family type was calculated from Dynamo. Once this was accomplished, random values were generated in spreadsheet by using “Randbetween” formula. Once, this was accomplished a Python script was run to read the numbers from the excel file and link the number to the material number and assign the material to the panel. The process is sequentially as explained below.

 Modification of curtain Panels

The curtain panels created in project 1 were then modified to add surfaces. These were then overwritten at the family level to incorporate the modification in the design. These are as explained below.

Modification of curtain panel 1 exterior

The modification comprised of adding a surface to the curtain panel created in Project 1 whose color would then be overwritten by using Dynamo, thereby incorporating visual effects. The modification is as shown in the figure below.

Figure 7: Blue surface depicts the surface added to the pattern

The material for this surface is then linked to a shared parameter which is available across multiple family files. Once this shared parameter is linked, the material can be overwritten at the project level.

Figure 8: Association between instance and Shared Parameter

This same process is then repeated for panels 2 and 3.

Figure 9: Modification of curtain panels 2 and 3

Creation of Materials

The next step was to create different materials type which will override the element color. I have chosen to create 4 different material types which will be used to overwrite the panel surface colors. To achieve this in the Materials Property dialog box, I created 4 different materials, Myglass1, Myglass2, Myglass3 and Myglass4.

Figure 10: Creation of different materials for Panel 1 Coloring

For coloring panels 2 and 3, I again created two more materials Myglass5 and Myglass6 which were used to overwrite the panel surface coloring.

Creation and Linking materials in Family

This was followed by the creation of four material parameters in the family project file which were then linked to the materials created above. For this purpose, I carried out the Panel 1 overwriting process in a separate family and panels 2 and 3 in a separate family. Once, I finished modifying the Panel colors for panels 2 and 3, I then overwrote the already existing family file in this environment with the previous one. This was because my top portion was modeled separately in Revit family file and my bottom portion was a different Revit family file.

Figure 11: Family parameters created for panel 1 surface coloring

Figure 12: Family parameters created for panels 2 and 3 coloring

Modification of the Panel Surface Colors

The next step was to modify the colors of the panels 2 and 3 overwritten at the family level. The Panel Surface Colors is split into two parts. Panel 1 overwriting is performed separately and Panels 2 and 3 are done separately. But the concept used and the Python script generated is the same. The first step common to both the parts was to identify the number of panels of that family type. This was achieved by using the “List. Transpose” node. Once the number of panels were calculated, Excel software was used to generate random numbers from 0 to (number of materials-1) using the “Randbetween” command. The formulas used can be seen in the pictures shown below. The number of cell values are the same compared to the number of curtain panel instances in the Revit file.

Figure 13: Excel file to generate random numbers for Panel 1 (0 to 3)

Figure 14: Excel file to generate random values for panels 2 and 3 (0 to 1)

Dynamo Flow

Once the steps outlined above are completed, dynamo is used to access all the files already created. The steps include:

1. Reading all the elements from the desired family type. In this case, it is Panel 1. Similar procedure is followed for Panels 2 and 3

Figure 15: Creation of Family Types

The other important thing is to notice the “Element. SetParameterByName” node which overwrites the material for the assigned panel surfaces.

2. Reading data from the excel files created above. For this purpose, the “Excel. Readfromfile” node is used.

Figure 16: Reading data from Excel files generated

3. Creating list based on the number of materials assigned to the Panel Color.

Figure 17: List Creation with different materials

4. Generating the Python Script that reads the value stored in each index and associates the material number with that index number. Here, I have used only one temporary variable “val” which is used for both reading and assigning materials based on the index number. This tends to save computer storage and computational performance. The python script is as shown below. Once this script runs, the next step is to link the output of this script to the input of Set Parameter by name node to overwrite the colors. The results of this can been seen in the later part of the blog.

Figure 18: Python Script

These processes combined together are represented in the picture below. With this, the Panel Surface coloring of Panel 1 is completed.

Figure 19: Whole Dynamo code for Panel Surface Coloring – 1

Similar procedure as outlined below, is used for the second part. The only difference is the creation of list to read both family types at the beginning of the code.

Figure 20: Whole Dynamo code for Panel Surface Coloring 2 and 3

VISUAL RESULTS

The Panel surface coloring for curtain panel 1 exterior is as shown below.

Result 3: Panel Coloring for Curtain Panel - 1 

The panel surface coloring for the top portion of the model is as shown in the figure below. The panel surface coloring for this portion is done on a separate family file.

Result 4: Panel Surface Coloring for Curtain Panels 2 and 3

Once the panel surface coloring for the top portion is completed, the top portion is then overwritten in the project file to complete the panel surface coloring for the whole structure. The completed project file is as shown in the picture below.

Result 5: Final Panel Surface Coloring of the whole structure

Another view of the completed project file is shown below.

Result 6: Another view of the final Panel Surface Coloring 

MODIFYING INSTANCE PARAMETERS TO BE DRIVEN BY SUN PATH

In this part of the project, I have tried to control the instance parameters of the curtain panel 1 to be driven by the sun path. The parameter “Extrusion” is driven by the sun path which also changes colors depending on the orientation of the curtain panel with the sun direction. In short, the thickness and the color of the curtain panel is driven by the sun path. The main motivation and the idea behind this was obtained from the last lecture class of Dr. Wei Yan, Architecture 653 course at Texas A&M University. The process flow is similar to the one taught by Dr. Yan in class and thus I felt that this was much related to my model. So, I decided to implement this for my project with minor modifications to suit my model.

Modification of the Curtain Panel

This part of the project also involved modifying the curtain panel 1 pattern from Project 1. The curtain panel is modified to be a simple rectangular surface with an extrusion. This extrusion height is controlled depending on the sun direction.

The design of the curtain panel is as shown below.

Figure 21: Curtain Panel modification

Creation of a family parameter “Extrusion” that is available in the subsequent project files for modification.

Figure 22: Creation of family parameter Extrusion

This curtain panel is then loaded and overwritten in the new project file.

Creation of Divided Surfaces

The next step was to create divided surface from the Revit model which can then be used to get the locations of the adaptive components. For this purpose I used the “Adaptive Component. Locations” node. The results of this were then written to an excel file using the “Excel.Write to file” node. This part considers two separate divided surface families due to the massiveness of the model. The Dynamo code for this process is as shown below.

Figure 23: Dynamo Code to get adaptive component locations and writing to excel file

Modifying instance parameters to be driven by sun path

The Dynamo code consists of two parts for the two divided surface families. Essentially, the same flow path is generated for both the families. Thus, the sequence of Dynamo code flow is as shown below.

1. Reading from the excel file already created in the previous step to get the locations of the Adaptive Components.

Figure 24: Reading from the excel file

2. Creation of Polygon Surfaces and the Adaptive Components. This is accomplished from the Dynamo Code shown below.

Figure 25: Creation of Polygon and adaptive Components

Note: Yellow node signals error which can be eliminated by downloading "Lunchbox for Dynamo" package.

3. Finding out the surface normal and representing the normal with a vector using “Line by Start Point End Point” node.

Figure 26: Finding out the Surface Normal

4. Finding out the angle between the Sun direction and the Normal to the Surfaces by using the “Vector. Dot” node

Figure 27: Finding out the angles between normal and sun direction

5. Remapping the values of the Dot product and changing the color of the panels based on the values of the dot products. For remapping the values. “Math. RemapRange” node has been used and for the overriding of colors “Color By ARGB” node has been used.

Figure 28: Overriding Color for the panels

6. Using Control parameter “Extrusion” to define the instance parameters of the panel to be driven by sun path. For this purpose “Element.Setparameterbyname” node has been used. This completes the visual design of the panel surfaces.

Figure 29: Controlling Instance parameter “Extrusion” based on the sun path

The same code is repeated for the other divided surface family to finish modelling and controlling the behavior of the instance parameters based on sun path.

VISUAL RESULTS

The divided surface for curtain panel 1 was obtained from this project file. The project file gives the locations of the adaptive components or points, which are then written to an excel file. The excel file is revised so as to just get the coordinates of the points and to remove other data which can possibly be flagged as errors by Dynamo. The excel file is then converted into a string file. 

Result 7: Revit family file used to get locations of the Adaptive components (writing to excel)

The Panel surface coloring at 12 PM is shown below.

Result 8: Panel Coloring for 12 PM

The Panel surface coloring at 7 PM is shown below.

Result 9: Panel Coloring for 7 PM

Variation in the Instance Parameter values based on orientation with the sun

It can be observed that the panels facing the sun have thinner panels. In other words, the panels facing the sun have small values of extrusion. This is explained in the figure given below.

Result 10: Smaller values of extrusion for panels facing the sun (Panel indicated by blue color)

It can also be observed that the panels away from the sun have greater values of thickness. This is shown in the figure given below. 

Result 11: Greater values of extrusion for panels away from sun (Panel indicated by blue color)

The increase in thickness of panels relative to each other is shown in the figure given below.

Result 12: Change in panel thickness depicted clearly

PROJECT VIDEO

CONCLUSION

Thus, Dynamo was used to add good quality visual representation to the Aspire Tower model. Several different types of visual lighting features were explored with Dynamo. Visual Representation under solar path and varying instance parameters of some families to be driven by sun path all point to the diversity that is offered by this software.

It can also be said that Dynamo offers several other features too which can be used to improve and enhance visual quality of models created. However due to time constraints, some of the tougher visual quality representation were not dealt with. Through this project, I was also able to understand the importance of adding good visual quality to the models that I created.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr. Wei Yan for constant support and encouragement throughout the ARCH 653 course. His patience and enthusiasm in clearing doubts and good quality lectures is highly appreciated.

REFERENCES

1. Autodesk website -  https://academy.autodesk.com/curriculum/bim-advanced-computational-design

2. Arch 653 Lecture 23 by Dr. Wei Yan - http://bim-sim.org/ARCH653/lectures/lecture23/1.html

3. Google 

4. Students Gallery tab at ARCH 653 website

Aspire Tower - Parametric modeling

ASPIRE TOWER

This document covers the Parametric modeling of the Aspire tower in Doha. This tower was designed by the architect Hadi Simaan, as a representation for the celebration of earth and sky. This tower was significant due to its proximity to the main venue, the Khalifa International Stadium which hosted the 15^th Asian games at Qatar.

Figure depicting the Aspire Tower in Doha (Source: Google Images)

Modeling Process

The model was split into two components. The first component comprised the design of the main structure into which the torch component too was added. This hosted several different features like 5 Star Hotel, Presidential Suites, Swimming pool, Health club among several other features in 36 floors. The second component involved designing the lattice structure that encompassed the torch.

The first component was made parametric by varying two key parameters: The height of the concrete core and the radius of the bottom floor. The subsequent floors were made to vary parametrically based on the bottom radius. These floors were in turn made to vary parametrically in their relative elevation from the ground. This was achieved by fixing their heights with respect to the height of the concrete core. This made possible to both vary the height and shape of the model without compromising the design intent of the architect, whose primary motive was to make this structure resemble that of a colossal torch.

Reference planes were created at different elevations to form a parametrically driven conceptual mass. By varying, the key parameters it was possible to make the model assume different shapes, keeping in mind the design intent of the architect.

Concrete Core Creation

The first step was to create a concrete core that acts as support structure for the other components. The concrete core had an internal and external diameter that varied throughout its height. So, to fix this aspect, the midpoint of core was kept as the point of minimum diameter and this dimension was varied across the total height in order to create a tapering effect to the design. The external diameter varied between 43 feet to 60 feet with thickness varying between 3 to 6 feet. This made possible to fix the eternal diameter at midpoint to 43 feet and the bottom external diameter to 60 feet. The internal diameter was 3 and 6 feet respectively. The top portion corresponding to the end point of the concrete core was assigned as the mean of these two parameters. The form was then created as shown in Figure 1.

Modeling of structure features

As mentioned previously the structure hosted different features across its heights and thus it was of importance to plan the number of floors for each of these features. The floor distribution is as shown in table 1. The height between each floor was fixed to 10 feet and this is explained in Mass Modeling revit file. Figure 1 also depicts circles of different diameters, which were primarily controlled by taking appropriate dimension ratios. It was important to find the right ratio else the structure could have possibly assumed different shape.

Serial No.	Feature	Number of Floors
1	Large Reception and Public Area	2
2	5 Star Hotel	17
3	Sports Museum	3
4	Health Club	4
5	Presidential Suites	3
6	Observation Desk & Revolving Restaurant	7

Table 1: Floor distribution for each of the features

Figure 1: Figure depicts central concrete core and creation of parametric circles

Creation of form elements to host different features

The next step was to create form elements that when put together would represent the actual structure. This is shown in Figure 2. As it can be observed in the figure, the structure is again of tapering design as mentioned previously. The achieved results was in good correlation to the actual structure design. Each of these forms were made to vary parametrically by fixing their height and diameter to vary parametrically with that of the key parameters mentioned previously. These form elements were made to host the different features bearing their support from the central concrete core.

Figure 2: Creation of form elements that exactly resemble the actual structure

Creation of extension to place torch

Another observation made during data collection was that the torch was not directly placed on the upper level of the structure. Rather, an extension that originates at the upper level from the concrete core forms a support to hold the torch. The diameter and height of this extension was again made to be parametrically driven by key parameters and is illustrated in figure 3.

Creation of Torch

The torch is then finally placed on this extension to complete the first component of the design. The design of the torch is in the form of frustum of cone and made to vary parametrically too. Figure 4 shows the d first component with torch. The height of torch was fixed at 62 feet.

Design of Lattice structure

The next part of the design comprised of designing the lattice shell structure that housed the torch. After some trials, the design was incorporated by cutting an ellipse geometry from a hollow cylinder that best closely resembled the actual structural design. This structure was created as a separate conceptual mass which was later integrated into the first component design to complete the design. The lattice structure radius was defined as an instance parameter which was then associated to the Radius of the top most surface of the first component in order to create a parametric design. This association allowed to achieve some desirable effects though led to some complications as discussed later. This is shown in figure 5.

Figure 3: Creation of extension that host the torch

Figure 4: Shows placement of torch

Figure 5: Design of lattice shell structure

Completed first component

From figure 4, the model form was created which finally completed the first component design.

Figure 6: Completed first component

Completed whole structure

The lattice shell structure was then placed on top of the completed first component to give the whole parametric model of the structure as shown below. It was found to be in good correlation with the actual structure design.

Figure 7: Aspire Tower Parametric completed model

  

FORMULAS USED

The whole parametric modeling was done to good judgement of the actual structure design. The formulas are as shown below.

Figure 8: Formulas Used

Parametrically controlled mass

Varying the key parameters was able to give new shapes to the structure. Some of the shapes generated by varying the height of core and the Bottom Radius are as shown below. 

Figure 9: Parametric model creation

Facade Pattern for Building Mass

Parametric building facade pattern is created for the model by creating individual components for the first component and the second component. Total of four facade patterns were created. The first component hosted two of these patterns. The patterns are as shown below.

Figure 10: Facade patterns for first component

The completed building mass hosting these patterns is as shown below.

Figure 11: First component with facade patterns

The second component again hosted two facade patterns. The interior and the exterior surfaces of the mass were made to host different patterns. The interior pattern shape resembled that of rhomboid and the exterior patterns resembled that of a rectangle. These are depicted in the images shown below.

Figure 12: Facade Patterns for second component

These facade patterns were then hosted along the interior and exterior surfaces to create the lattice shell structure that hosted the torch. 

Figure 13: Creation of lattice shell structure

The lattice shell structure was then combined with the first component of the structure to create the Aspire Tower model. 

Figure 14: Aspire Tower Model

Massing

This building model was then loaded into a new project to create mass floors and roofs. The floor distribution in each of the feature is as mentioned above. After creation of the floors and roofs, interior designing was done for two features, namely the revolving restaurant and a model of the 5 star hotel room. (This was my intention but I am really not sure if the rendering images below suggest the same. So please bear with me :))

Rendering

For the rendering elements, toposurface was created. Pads are created in an effect to show the foundation effect for this structure. To this, road elements and environmental elements were later added. 

Exterior Rendering 

Some of the exterior rendering images are as shown below. 

Interior Rendering

The interior rendering images are shown for different times of the day. There are two features modeled in the interior renderings. 

Hotel Room Rendering

Hotel Room Rendering late afternoon 

Hotel Room Rendering night time

Restaurant Waiting Area 

Waiting Room close to sunset 

Waiting Room during night 

During Day

Problems Encountered

During the placing of the lattice structure on the first component, even after associating the parameters in the nested family, I was not able to modify or vary the structure parametrically for the Bottom Radius key parameter. The model however works fine when height of core is varied. Also, custom pattern 1 is not able to adjust parametrically with the tower. These problems will be corrected in the subsequent project. 

Project Video

References

1. Wikipedia source about Aspire Tower, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aspire_Tower

2. The Arup Journal 2, 2007, http://www.sefindia.org/forum/files/aspire_towerdohaqatar_107.pdf

3. Miscellaneous information and gallery, https://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Aspire_Tower

4. Google Images