Garden sculpture emerging from a slab

Grid 2

A 3D grid emerges from a 4-ton limestone slab. This garden sculpture by Messner Architects was designed with Rhino. Then the extracted data was the departure point for the CAM process.

Messner web site ....

111 Murray Street - NY residential tower

Large architectural projects involve many different stakeholders. Typically these projects require countless hours of reworking the model and the supporting design information. Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates (KPF) uses a parametric design process, which includes Rhino and Grasshopper, to create a dynamic design model. With KPF's parametric workflow, everything remains up-to-date, and the model is kept lightweight. 

111 Murray Street is the latest residential tower designed by KPF to join the skyline of New York City skyscrapers. Using a harmonious blend of applications, the project design developed as a parametric model that was part of a larger building information modeling process. Design aesthetics and planning information link to create a dynamic model that responds to programming changes. Early on, the team was able to make design changes and see real-time analytics dynamically updated. Some of these analytics include:

• Wall-type panel counts used to inform fabricators of unit quantities

• Window-to-wall ratio values used to inform energy modeling efforts

• Floor areas used to maximize FAR

• Facade panel twist to inform design gestures

• Setout documentation for drawing set coordination

The computational workflow not only benefits KPF clients and employees but also has been noticed by KPF industry partners.

We continue to see these design workflows evolve.  

More KPF projects....

NERO - translate environmental conditions into data

NERO add-in for Grasshopper/Rhino

NERO is a collaborative project led by Noumena with the aim to develop systems and tools to translate different environmental conditions into data. As part of this research, Noumena developed a first add-in NERO (V 0.6.2 beta) for Grasshopper.

NERO lets you extract data from a single image (JPEG format) and translate into Grasshopper and Rhino interface. You can visualize the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values from each pixel of the image. NDVI is directly related to the photosynthetic capacity and energy absorption of plants. It also can be used for other scopes.