ARCH 653: Project 1

THE SPIRAL, New York

This project is an attempt to apply the parametric modeling techniques that I learnt in this course. The selected project "The Spiral" is located in New York, designed by the Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG). The skyscraper has a total floor area of 2.6 million sq.ft and height of 1005 ft. The architect has intentionally created setbacks that twist and taper on the facade, to ensure that each floor has a dedicated outdoor area. I found the design intent of this project similar to the conical helix exercise, this, motivated me to select and explore this building further. 

Step 1: Collect building information

The images and information collected for this project  was predominantly obtained from the websites listed below:

https://thespiralny.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/TheSpiral-FloorPlans.pdf
http://bigbuilders.dk/?p=500
https://www.archdaily.com/781752/big-to-extend-high-line-vertically-with-spiral-tower
https://big.dk/#projects-tsp

Step 2: Conceptual mass

To generate four cuboids that are stacked on each other, drew rectangles with the required setbacks were sketched on five levels and used the create form command on Autodesk Revit. For every cuboid the length and width were converted in instance parameters that would flex according to the users input (as seen in Figure 1). Later, formulas were set up to ensure that these stacked cuboids move in relative to each other (Figure 3).

Figure 1: Stacked cuboids that flex according to user defined inputs

The next step was to create generic adaptive stair families that can be mapped onto the created form (cuboid). Prior to mapping the stair family, the divide surface command was applied on the surface of the cuboids to generate the reference grid. Eventually, the entire conceptual mass was created using this method (as seen in Figure 1& 2). 

Figure 2: Mapping adaptive family onto reference grids

Figure 3: Constraints and formulas for the stacked cuboids

After creating the form using adaptive families, the model is flexed with user defined length and width parameters. We observe that the model flexes accordingly (Figure 4 & 5)!

Figure 4: Conceptual mass with length of 320' and width 180' (original model)

Figure 5: Conceptual mass with user defined length of 520' and width 180'

Finally, the surface of the adaptive stair family was divided to apply the curtain panels on the facade (Figure 6). 

Figure 6: Divided surface for curtain panel

Step 3: Parametric facade panel

Since the original building facade had a fairly simple glazing system, I tried to experiment with a pattern inspired by architect Al-Bahar's parametric facade system (https://www.archdaily.com/270592/al-bahar-towers-responsive-facade-aedas) using different geometry (square instead of triangle). The parametric panel was created using the curtain panel pattern-based template and nested into another family to form a doubly glazed system. Figure 7 & 8, shows the panel along with its parameter values; changing the instance parameter NCP, flexes the model. As seen, the NCP value determines the level of shading. This instance parameter can be linked to the sun path to adapt according to the time of the day. We shall explore this possibility in Project 2. Apart from these curtain panels, I also created a plain single glazed curtain system and applied it to certain surfaces in my project. 

Figure 7: NCP value at 0.10, flattens the panel

Figure 8: NCP value at 0.90, converges the panel

Step 4: Project file

The conceptual mass is then loaded into the project file. The levels, floors, walls, roofs and interior furniture layout for level 1 were created here (Figure 9). The site was modeled using the toposurface command and the other buildings were loaded as conceptual mass families into the project.

Figure 9: Project file 

Visualization and Video

Exterior render

Interior render

Challenges

The main challenge was to parameterize the height parameter, since the building has a spiral geometry with defined setbacks at each level. The overlapping geometry used to create the spiral pattern makes it difficult to set up constraints for the height. Another issue was to model unique floor plans at each level. We created adaptive families to flex the length and width parameters of the conceptual mass. Due to limitations of the software, we were unable to model floors within the adaptive families. In this case it is important to note that, to gain certain extent of flexibility, we lost important functionality. Next, the join command failed to connect the adaptive stair family placed four sides of the cuboid. As a result, the curtain panel pattern could not be placed along the edges of the model. Furthermore, the dynamic curtain panel needs to be designed in a more robust manner to ensure that these panels are not abruptly cut at the edges of a surface. Due to time constraints of this project, we are unable to examine them further.