powercopies....step2

once i had all the powercopies placed on the framework sketch, i was able to edit the sketch and have the towers follow along with it.





when i adjust the slider in the sketch and update the entire document, what i get is a set of tubes that are oriented on the arch and follow the path on which they are placed.

sucess

powercopied...FINALLY

took me way too long to get all the kinks work out on this...but here it is.



I created an arch on which i placed several points for what would later be the placement of the powercopies. The points on the arch were spaced evenly within the 'place point' tool where I used a ratio as opposed to a dimension of the arch.


Making the individual tube was easy. and since it was built on a set of parameters, it was simple to change and manipulate. The plans were placed at planes which are all based on a parameter of height. If one run changes its height, they all change in unison. The circles are all placed with their centers coinciding with a base point outside of the geometrical set...these two base points later on serve as the placement tools for the powercopies.



the original powercopy was created pretty quickly and based on two parameters; radius, which controls all of the circles at once in case i needed to make the plans wider or thinner. The other parameter is height, which controls the height of the plane with which the alternating floor plans intersect.

i shall call him squishy and he shall be mine...

The planes are placed at equal intervals to the first plane's distance to the origin/axis plane. The drawings were then placed at the planes and the circles connected into individual forms.

Because the planes were all based off of the parameter of the the first plane's dist from the axis, they all moved together in unison. I could change the first, and they all changed together. The planes are specifically moments where the individual circle plans are at one of their extreme ends and connecting to the adjacent towers. In decreasing this distance, you have a shorter building with closer connections of floors. So before where the FOA towers connected approx. every 30 floors, now the towers seem to connect every 5 floors or so.

The video shows this change and the images below show the how the building has changed form within this new iteration and rule. What I would like to accomplish, is the ability of the building to increase or decrease the distance between connecting floors without changing the building height. I feel this is possible...its just going to take a little work...blah

multiple tubes and squashing

Created a new iteration with double the amount of sides (12 now) with double the amount of tubes. It makes for a much more intense facade...not quite as transparent or porous.

new iterations

Working on different iterations for the building. In my first i have taken away the parameter of the circles moving together and mirroring one another. Instead, they now sway back and forth independently. They are still tangent to the corner construction circles, however they no longer share the same construction corners.

This creates a more interesting interaction between the tubes. They dont touch as many times, some dont touch at all. They also no longer move in the same manner but have a different style or pattern. The curves are not mirrored and equally spaced. Next plan is to create more than 6 tubes and see how many patterns it can create. Also curving the tubes at closer intervals and levels.

failed exoskeleton study...

In my attempt to recreate/study the skin of the tubes, i have found out that its creates its own physical constraints without my knowledge. When making the sections with splines, i find that although they pass through the correct points, the lines are not tangent to one another. when i attempt to make the splines tangent, the first two usually work out fine, and then (unless the construction lines are all right angles and vertical and horizontal) the drawing turns red and hates me.

When i try the same concept using curves along 3 points, i am successful in making all the curves tangent to one another and the construction lines. However, the points of connection to the continuing curves cannot remain tangent. Basically i have separate curves that dont look continuous, and if i set them tangent to one another...drawing turns red and again, hates me.

Starting to wonder if this characteristic can be changed or if the structure is built on a set of universal parameters that i am only beginning to understand...perhaps i STILL cant bend the laws of phsyics. God knows i'll keep trying...

forming the tubes

The tubes were fairly simple to make 3D once the drawings had been completed. The drawing was copied and pasted onto multiple planes at repeating height differences. The individual circles were made into profiles and then from the set of 4 (ground, roof, and two center 3rds) i was able to made the individual solid tubes. The the solid was transformed into a shell using the shell command and selecting the top and bottom surfaces and defining a thickness to the structure.

the tubes

Finally posting some screen shots of the modeling of the tubes. Turned out to be a lot more difficult than i thought since i have a Mac and trying to printscreen without a PC 'printscreen' button on my windows side...not an easy task.

The individual tube towers are located on a hexagonal shaped plan and remain within the shape at all times. Their centers coincide with the edge lines of the hexagon and can move back and forth, but never move off the lines. This creates the 'swaying' motion as i have been calling it and keeps the towers stationary to some extent.















CONSTRAINTS:
The circular plans never change in size of diameter and their centers coincide with the hexagon edges. Coincident with the corners of the hexagon are construction circles with undefined diameters. This allows these circles to change shape but never leave the hexagon corners. Finally, the construction circles and the main plan-circle are made tangent with one another at all times. This creates a boundary that keeps the central circle from leaving the edges of the hexagon. At all times, the central circle and two edge circles must remain tangent to one another.















Once this process is repeated along all 6 sides of the hexagon and all the circles are tangent with one another, moving one circle then in turn shifts all the circles in the entire plan. The plan now mimics the FOA bundle towers.

exoskeleton

The individual tubes each have an exoskeleton that encases it. The structure is reflective of the structure of the overall building itself. I have only begun to play with and test the parameters of this concept...seems pretty stubborn and against change.

I have affectionately dubbed this the wave structure, and what I have realized is that each individual wave is tangent at alternating points with the waves next to it. In changing the size, direction, or length of any one of these segments, the entire wave (and surrounding waves) seem to morph out of control and beyond recognition. So I need to fool with it a bit more.

Some screen shots of DP are coming soon...

(hopefully tomorrow)

FOA FOUND

Found some images/work in an El Croquis. However, due to paranoia of copyright issues, im currently taking them down. However, I have scanned and recreated the work which shows the relationship of the towers and their movements.

You can see from these plans, the circular plans of each tower remain stationary on a single axis and although they 'sway' from side to side, they remain on that axis and within a set of bounds. The circles keep the central core within the confines of the plan and they also only get to the edge of their paths/axis and stop at that point.

At these points of connection with the two towers, the two floor plans become one. This allows for egress to move down through one tower and over to possibly another if need be.

WHERE ARE YOU FOA!!!!

looking for Foreign Office Architect's proposal for the World Trade Center site... 'Bundle Towers'