A subterranean transit maze

In the heart of New York's lower Manhattan the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) is now replacing an early 1900s maze of underground pedestrian passages with a light-filled central hub.

The overall work involves several projects: rehabilitation of four existing stations, construction of an underground pedestrian concourse and connections to two other stations, and construction of the main transit center building, the Fulton Transit Center. The Fulton Transit Center's core is organised around a grand civic space, linking 11 subway lines and 6 stations, including those serving the World Trade Center site.

This above ground atrium structure is an artistic, architectural and engineering collaboration between James Carpenter Design Associates and Grimshaw Architects, with Arup as the engineer and facade consultant.

A hyperbolic paraboloid cable net stretches within the cone of this contemporary oculus. The cable net supports an inner skin of perforated metal reflector panels, which bounce daylight throughout the atrium to the deepest levels of the transit center.

Enclos, the curtainwall company, produced a 3D model of the Transit Center's interior cable net system. The model was critical in several aspects. To estimate the cable lengths, they started with the structural drawings, which included a table of 1056 nodal coordinates, each with an X, Y and Z component. They automated the generation of the cable net geometry and extracted accurate cable lengths of the tensioned cable net.

The control points were organized within Microsoft Excel. By developing a custom component within Grasshopper, the Excel spreadsheet coordinates were streamed in to the Rhino model. After verifying the accuracy of the work-point population, these points were used to generate the centerlines for the stainless steel cable members and tension rods which make up the cable net. The values could be changed at any point within the design process and all other tasks were immediately updated.

The Rhino model information was streamed via Grasshopper in to a structural analysis tool's database to check the construction's integrity under prescribed loads.

Because of the varied metal panel geometries and perforations that clad the cable net, accurate fabrication was a potential challenge. So the model was also used to automatically generate the complicated fabrication drawings for the 952 unique rhomboid and triangular perforated metal panels that wrap the net's geometry.

Detailed description of process by Enclos . . . 

Online Level 2 Rhino 5 Course

Image credit: Kyle Houchens, The Outside

Our Level 2 Rhino 5 online course begins next week. The class is scheduled for February 3-13. We have a few seats still available if you'd like to register. The course has been updated for Rhino 5 and will consist of seven sessions, a brief orientation on Monday followed by six half-days of Rhino 5 training.

Dates/Times:

• Orientation: Monday, February 3, 9:00am -10:30am
• Training: Tuesday-Thursday, February 4-6 and 11-13, 9:00am - 1:00pm
  Note: All times listed are Pacific time zone. Calculate your time zone.

All sessions are instructor-led and will be recorded for later viewing.  If you cannot make a session, watch the video and catch up before the class meets again.

Sign up today!

CMSA 2014 Conference

The CMSA 2014 conference will be held on March 20-21, 2014 in Dongguan, China. About 90 oral papers will be presented in the conference literature.

Registration and more detail...

Shape To Fabrication 5: The Making of the 2012 Games

Shape To Fabrication 5: The Making of the 2012 Games
Stratford Circus, London (UK)
April 9-10, 2014

The fifth conference in the Shape to Fabrication series has a primary focus: For the first time all the presenters have contributed to a single project, the hugely successful 2012 Games held in Stratford, London. 

Projects include the Main Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Heatherwick Studio’s Cauldron, the Torch. Also included are winning sports equipment designers, such as Speedo and designers of the Team GB Road & Track Bikes. 

Speakers include Patrick Schumacher (Zaha Hadid Architects), Katerina Dionysopoulou (Heatherwick Studio), Jon Marshall (Barber Osgerby), David Hines and Pavol Knapo (Populous), Dimitris Katsanis (Team GB Bicycles by Metron) and Chris Johnson (Speedo).

Organized by SimplyRhino UK and RoboFold.

Complete details and registration...

Also, save the dates for the next UK Grasshopper meeting. It will be just before the Shape To Fabrication event on April 8th at the UCL-Bartlett from 9am to 9pm. There will be technical talks from Grasshopper plug-in developers and power users.

Rhino/V-Ray Marathon contest in Greece

Designing Tron! Rhino/V-Ray Marathon

Ready for an Architectural Challenge? Enter the Rhino/V-Ray Marathon organized by formDEcode, ΕΣΩ and Archisearch.

Complete details and registration...

REaction 1401 workshop in Paris

REaction 1401 workshop

Grasshopper and evolutionary solvers

Paris (France)

March 14-16, 2014

Design in contemporary architecture focuses on being evolutionary, temporary, changeable, but above all adaptable and customizable to the socio-technological contexts and to people’s needs.

REACTION 1401 focuses on understanding and controlling the logics of genetics and evolutionary algorithms. Those evolutionary solvers apply the principles of evolution found in nature to find an optimal solution to a problem. We will explore the potentials of those design techniques. Environmental and energetic data will be the main inputs of those processes that will drive our design choices towards flexible, progressive, interactive solutions.

The main plug-ins for Grasshopper that will be used are:
Heliotrope, Galapagos, Goat, Meshedit, Mesh+, Elk, gHowl.

Complete details and registration...

Coincidence/Incidence/Interference by Alvin Huang

Alvin Huang, Design Principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture and a Tenure-track Assistant Professor at the USC School of Architecture will be giving a lecture at 6pm Wednesday January 22, 2014 at the USC School of Architecture in Los Angeles. 

Entitled "Coincidence/Incidence/Interference: Exploratory Practice & Moiré" the lecture will chronicle the recent design work of Synthesis Design + Architecture explored through the lens of design research in "Exploratory Practice."

Alvin is the Founder and Design Principal of Synthesis Design + Architecture. He is an  award-winning architect, designer, and educator specializing in the integrated application of  material performance, emergent design technologies and digital fabrication in contemporary  architectural practice. This exploration of "digital craft" is identified as the territory where the  exchange between the technology of the digitally conceived and the artisanry of the handmade  is explored.  His wide ranging international experience includes significant projects of all scales  ranging from hi-rise towers and mixed-use developments to bespoke furnishings.

Complete details and registration...

Meet our 2014 RhinoFabStudio mentors

We would like to welcome aboard our 2014 RhinoFabStudio mentors. The Mentoring Program is designed to provide support to professionals, teachers, and  students who are interested in pursuing research and inquiry.  Our mentors are 12 wonderful collaborators  who represent active researchers and role models from universities, schools, and companies from across the globe. Our mentors want you to succeed and will offer you valuable advice. They are unpretentious in their critiques and openhanded with their networks. To learn more about them, please click here.

The RhinoFabStudio mentors are professionals in their respective fields and they are ready to assist you with inquiries regarding the implementation of a RhinoFabStudio, but they are unable to provide tech support. You can send your Rhino related questions to support@mcneel.com at any time.

What is a RhinoFabStudio?

A RhinoFabStudio™ (digital fabrication studio) is a small-scale digital workshop, certified by McNeel, with an array of Rhino and Rhino compatible software and computer controlled tools and training. These tools cover the various leading-edge industrial methods and materials needed to design, analyze, and fabricate almost anything.

Online Intro to Grasshopper Course, January 27-30

Join us for our Intro to Grasshopper for Rhino 5 online training course. This course is for design professionals who are looking to efficiently learn concepts and features of Grasshopper at an accelerated pace in an instructor-led online environment. The advantages of using Grasshopper in preliminary design and concept development come to life in numerous real-life examples.

Dates: January 27-30, 2014

  Orientation: January 27, 9:00 am-10:30 am
  Grasshopper training: January 28-30, 9:00 am-1:00 pm

Price: US$195

Details and registration... 

Please note, all times noted above are Pacific time zone. Calculate your time zone.

RhinoGold, Clayoo, and RhinoEmboss at IJT Tokyo

Come visit the IJT Jewelry show in Tokyo (January 22-25) and learn more about RhinoGold, Clayoo, RhinoEmboss and 3D printing at the SeaForce Co & TDM Solutions Booth (A21-37).

Details...

Montreal joins RhinoTerrain

"In 2013, Claude Vuattoux of RhinoTerrain succeeded in automatically texturing our Digital Terrain Model at a level of detail LOD2 while preserving the CityGML standard of the original data.

Previously, the Geomatique Division of the City of Montreal used the CityGML standard (LOD1 and LOD2) to produce a 3D model of buildings from data obtained using a photogrammetry capturing process. CityGML is an open source format that allows adding attributes, freely exchanging virtual urban 3D models and an open use of the format. Because the texture images generated by RhinoCity for rendering our 3D urban model are generated from aerial photographs taken directly above Montreal, they are very realistic. The outcome is creating great interest among both experts and 3D neophytes.

During the RhinoCity training, we were impressed by the geospatial data calculations, particularly while fixing knot topology and associating a building with an identifier using a spatial request. RhinoCity offers a great deal of efficiency and is causing us to review the software solutions we are currently using for producing our digital model. RhinoTerrain is very promising for structuring the Digital Terrain Model. It's a nice surprise for those of us in our line of work."

Richard Mongeau a.-g., M. Sc. 
Arpenteur-géomètre chef d'équipe 

Équipe de la cartographie et des levés spéciaux 
Division de la Géomatique 
Direction des Travaux Publics 
Service du Développement et des Opérations 
Ville de Montréal 

Check this video about RhinoTerrain and RhinoCity at last Intergeo exhibition...

New book: Grasshopper and Origami shapes

"ARCHITETTURA DELLE SUPERFICI PIEGATE - le geometrie che muovono gli origami" is a new book by Michele Calvano and other colleagues of University Sapienza in Rome and deals with origami movements in Rhino and Grasshopper.

Details (in Italian)...

V-Ray for Rhino workshop in Barcelona

V-Ray for Rhino workshop
ESARQ UIC, Barcelona
Jan 21-23, 28-30

Check the complete details (in Spanish) here...

The 3rd Edition of the Essential Mathematics is now available in Italian

Prepared by Nando Varriale, the Italian translation of the third edition of the "Essential Mathematics for Computational Design" is now available to download. You can get from here...

Food4Rhino News: Rhino and Grasshopper apps + materials!

With more than 120 apps available and 45,000 visits (25,000 downloads) in the last month, food4Rhino is the first Rhino plugin and Grasshopper add-on site on the web. 

There have been new significant improvements during the last months:

• New Materials, Environments, and Textures section: upload or download Rhino, Maxwell, and V-Ray materials, environment maps, and textures
• New Quick Links to search by field, platform, and license type and for Materials, Environments, and Textures
• Remote updated to handle the new Materials, Environments, and Textures
• Improved web performance and updated antivirus

And of course, there are many new and updated add-ons for architectural design, urban planning, GIS, structural engineering, robot controlling, BIM, environmental analysis, physics, visualization, landscape, jewelry, advanced modeling, and much more!

Visit food4Rhino now!

Grasshopper workshop in Beirut by Luis Fraguada

Applied Parametric Design with Rhino and Grasshopper

The workshop on Applied Parametric Design is an introduction and immersion into the world of associative design with McNeel’s Rhino and Grasshopper software.  Rhino is an advanced NURBS modeler where we will learn about precision modelling, project workflow, and organization.  Grasshopper is an associative modeling plug-in for Rhinoceros that allows us to parametrically define the logics of our model to explore variations and optimized solutions.  

These two tools are a powerful combination for any architect, designer, engineer, professional, or student interested in exploring how parametric design can benefit their workflow.

This is the first workshop in a series of workshops conducted by Built by Associative Data in Beirut dealing with digital tools applied to architecture, engineering, and design.

Prerequisites:

Workshop participants should have a familiarity with CAD software, 2D drafting, and 3D modeling.

Software:

Rhino 5 and Grasshopper (links to trial versions of the software will be made available to the workshop participants).  Participants are asked to install the software prior to attending the workshop.  Technical support will be provided prior to the workshop to facilitate software installation.

Instructor: 
Luis E. Fraguada - Director of Research Built by Associative Data, Authorized Rhino Trainer

Timeline:

Thursday, January 23, 2014: 18h - 22h

Friday, January 24, 2014: 18h - 22h

Saturday, January 25, 2014: 10h - 18h

Cost: $1000

Location:

Built by Associative Data

Suite 101, first floor

Verdun Twins

Beirut, Lebanon

Contact and registration:

info@bad.ar.com

+961 70 310 310

When is a size 8 a size 8?

Standard clothing sizes are not really standard at all. In 2011 the New York Times pointed out this disparity. Their research showed that a size 8 waist measurement ranged from 26" to 31". Today, the measurements standards are much the same.

A Barcelona-based company is using Rhino to remedy this. Jorge & Esther is throwing out the traditional standard of using measurements by digitally fitting their clothing designs. In order to understand tailoring strategies for dealing with the different body types Jorge & Esther is creating The Body Database Project. Over 150 different body types are currently scanned into their database.

To create a personalized fit, Jorge & Esther's process is: Scan the body. Digitally drape the virtual material over the computerized body image. Create the digital pattern and the virtual construction of the garment. Print out the pattern. Cut the material and, finally, stitch it together.

Article from Latinalista . . . 

EvoluteTools PRO - new functionality and videos

EvoluteTools PRO added some new functionality recently.

"Whether you are interested in point cloud surface reconstruction, cylinder fitting or panel repetition maximization, it is worth having a look over our Youtube channel and check out the new clips. Also, if you are interested in a particular bit of functionality, have a dataset that is giving you a headache, you might want to send it over to us and it can turn into a cool new video showing how to solve that specific challenge with EvoluteTools." 

AA Athens Visiting School 2014

Athens - CIPHER CITY :: Revolutions

National Technical University of Athens

Monday, March 31 – Tuesday, April 8, 2014 

What would happen if a structure could transform in real‐time? AA Athens Visiting School embarks on its third cycle to address issues of change, adaptation, and interaction in the design of an enclosed volume. In this time of social, economic, and environmental uncertainty, it's a quality for the built environment to regard transformation as a way of practice.

Revolutions have occurred throughout architectural history and vary widely in terms of design methods and fabrication techniques. Focusing on inspiring natural form‐finding techniques, AA Athens VS works towards producing a large‐scale interactive prototype that alters in real‐time the perception of interior space.

Technology and architecture join for the third year in Athens with a novel agenda of transforming an enclosed area and creating internal contrasting city‐life characteristics that transcend the local conditions. In collaboration with the National Technical University of Athens, Cipher City: Revolutions explores participatory design and active engagement modeling and continues building novel prototypes upon horizontal planes.

The toolset includes mainly Rhino Grasshopper, Processing and Arduino platforms. With the completion of the Programme participants receive the AA Visiting School Certificate. In 2014, the design agenda of AA Athens will connect with the agenda of AA Greece VS in the city of Patras. Participation in both Programmes will allow for a more extensive learning experience through additional tools like Autodesk Maya, Autodesk 3D Studio Max, and more.

Complete details and registration...

RhinoEmboss

TDM Solutions announced RhinoEmboss, a new plugin for Rhino 5 for advanced reliefs, texturing, sculpting, and engraving.

RhinoEmboss is ideal for furniture, sign making, jewelry, awards and trophies, medallions, and ADA signage.

Complete details and download...

Geometrias'14 conference

Geometrias'14 will take place at Escola de Tecnologias e Arquitectura (ISCTE-IUL - Lisbon, Portugal) on May 17-18, with the main theme “New Challenges on Practice, Researching and Teaching Geometries and Drawing”.

Connexions between complex geometries and the most advanced digital technologies allow the introduction of new multidisciplinary approaches in teaching, researching and the professional practice of the related creative areas.

What role is there, nowadays, for geometry learning? How is geometry teaching determined by these new technologies and which new learning opportunities can they induce? How can they be applied and coexist in an academic and creative context?

The 3D modeling session will showcase Rhino, food4Rhino and VisualARQ.

Complete info and registration...

16th International Conference on Geometry and Graphics

The 16th International Conference on Geometry and Graphics (ICGG 2014) will be held in Innsbruck, Austria, on August 4–8, 2014.

The ICGG 2014 provides a forum for presentation and discussion of both academic and industrial research involving theoretical and applied geometry and graphics as well as other related fields. The ICGG conference is part of a series of conferences held biannually and sponsored by the International Society for Geometry and Graphics (ISGG).

David Rutten (Robert McNeel & Associates) will be one of the keynote speakers.

Call for papers...

Complete conference info...