2. Grasshopper
Project: Villa Bami, Roof Element
The brief:
Villa’s location is south of Sardinia, Italy. There are 300 sunny days a year and the average temperature during summer months is around 30C, therefore the facade sun screening is essential. However
planning regulations do not allow eaves overhang greater than 30cm unless the canopy is considered
to be a non-permanent structure. The lightweight structure of the roof must be made by a local carpenter who has access to a laser cutter. Also the project has a very tight budget.
The main goals of the project:
- To experiment with the generative modelling of Grasshopper
- To meet the defined requirements of the brief
- Definition that can create an aesthetically pleasing and functional element for each seven parts of
the roof
The outcome of the project:
Diagram of the Structural Elements of the Model
ridge line
examples of
other initial
construction lines for
other part of
the roof
two wall lines
centre line
1. Initial geometry: the three boundary lines
2. Wall line is offset to create the edge curve
3. All the construction curves of the slats
4. All the construction surfaces of the slats
(ridge line and two wall lines) of the roof element and its centre line within Rhino environment
of the canopy
- The goals are met.
- Few resolvable structral issues, like lack of support underneath the roof overhang.
- Given that the three boundary lines of the roof element and its centre line are provided, roof elements of any geometry can be created and combined together to make up a complete roof system.
The definition can be easily adapted to include a wider selection of the control parameters if needed.
However this definition is not able to take all construction lines of all parts of the roof and create a
whole roof at once. It will be a future task to improve the definition.
Definition:
- Main stages: edge curves for each slat spaced away at a Golden Section ratio, extruded and moved
surfaces of the slats, ridge construction and final mirror of the one half of the roof
- User controlled variables: width and number of the slats, slats’ and gaps’ scaling ratio, thisckness of
the slats, ridge thickness.
- Controls of the parameters are between canopy overhang and the width of the slats, gaps and the
width of the slats, height of the roof profile and the thickness of the material and the number of slats,
ridge depth and the width of the slats.
- Required initial geometry: the three
boundary lines (ridge line and two wall
lines) of the roof element and its centre line must be provided within Rhino
environment in order to create parts of
the roof of any outlines. This definition
can only be used to generate symmetrical shaped roofs. Alternatively this
definition can create non-symmetrical
roof and canopies between two ridges if
the code is adjusted slightly (the mirror function is eliminated at the end
of the definition and another ridge is
constructed at the other end of the roof
curve)
Fig. 3
Fig. 5
Amiina Bakunowicz
2
3. Grasshopper
Project: Villa Bami, Roof Element
5. Defining surface of the hlalf of the roof
6. Edges of the trimmed slats’ surfaces as
7. Surfaces of the slats
8. Surfaces of the slats extruded and moved
9. Intersection points between the construction curves of the slats and the ridge line
10. The points are moved up, replicating exactly the path of the slats. A top curve of the
ridge is created along the interpolation points
and other 3 user defined points in Rhino
11. The bottom curve of the ridge is created
by offsetting the top curve down.
12. All the 4 edges of the ribs are created
13. Four surfaces between the four edge
14. The final ridge and the slats together
element
curves giving the volume to the ridge
an intersection area between the surfaces in
the steps 4 and 5.
15. The final ridge and the slats are mirrored
along the centre line
vertically
16. The final part of the roof in Rhino model
of the villa
Amiina Bakunowicz
3
