VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre

Perkins + Will Canada photo

A/N Blog photo

What happens when you want your architectural project based on an organic shape?  If you are Busby Perkins + Will, in Vancouver, BC, you combine Rhino and Grasshopper and come up the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre. The organic forms and natural systems of a native orchid were the inspiration for the uniquely shaped rooftop of the Centre. Following this theme, the building's undulating green roof petals float above curving earth and concrete walls.

To fabricate this, StructureCraft sliced the building shape into 71 long, curved roofing panels. For more information on this see the A/N The Architect's Newspaper blog.

Another nice presentation is a Perkins + Will video. It's a delightful collection of information with topics such as design concept, software, energy management, sustainability, structural design for complex shapes. Then—this is the point we like—at 2:30 minutes,  Harley Grusko, the Project Designer explains, "Rhino, as a design tool, was probably the most influential in the project. It's used to design forms that are free form or more organic and it does so in a precise way." And he goes on in more detail . . .

The video is nine minutes long and it's a beautiful portrait of the project. It's worth watching the whole thing.

Watch the video ....