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Pratt Institute -- Interior Design

INT 659.01 -- Rhino and Grasshopper: Rule Based Modeling

Spring 2012

Final Project --- Light Diffusing Screens

Assignment Date:          6/21/12

Due Date                8/2/12

 

 

     

Project Intent: 

Light Diffusing Screens is a design investigation focusing on the diffusion of sunlight, which will utilize generative design techniques to inform digital fabrication.  The final deliverables will include full scale screens that will be assembled from components cut from sheet stock (chipboard of any thickness) with a laser cutter.  As such, students will be forced to account for material thickness, joinery, assembly sequence, component identification, bed size, material utilization, etc. in their grasshopper models.  These real world design constraints will force students to work in a rule based manner and to fully embrace grasshopper’s generative capabilities in order to realize their design ideas efficiently and effectively.


Project Outline: 

Design and build a set of three light diffusing screens for a window (which receives direct sunlight for at least part of the day) in your home.  Each screen will be designed for a specific season: one for summer, one for winter, one for spring and fall.  All three screens must occupy the same design space, and must be able to be described only by variations in a set of defined design drivers.  The only material allowed for construction of the screens is chipboard (and white glue).  Any sheet thickness may be used, and the screens may be painted flat white after assembly if desired.  

The project will be broken up into three parts:

  1. Schematic Design (1 week).  Build your room and window in Rhino to use as a context / input model for your GH definions.  Choose an assembly tectonic, and build 3 - 5 schematic grasshopper definitions describing your design ideas.  One design gesture will be chosen to pursue in parts two and three.  See next page for details.

  1. Design Prototyping (3 weeks)  Develop your design idea’s implementation and assembly tectonic in GH,  and produce at least one full scale laser cut screen prototype per week.  Screens will be evaluated based on a student defined set of Design Performance Criteria (DPC).  

  1. Final Screens Fabrication and Documentation (1.5 Weeks).  Fabricate your three final screens, and prepare a thorough digital presentation to be given on the last day of class including: schematic design gestures, photographs of the screens in situ, videos of the grasshopper definition interaction, line drawings, etc.


Part One instructions.  For next week’s Tuesday class, complete the following tasks:

  1. Select and model (in Rhino) the window and interior space you will design your screens for.  The window should receive direct sunlight for at least part of the day.  Identify North in your model so we can model the sun paths.  The model should be dimensionally accurate to a ¼” or so around the window.  

  1. Select an assembly system to pursue for the length of the project. The three available assembly systems are:
  1. Variable Louvers  Vertical and / or horizontal strips are attached to (more or less) perpendicular framing members.
  2. Dense Egg Crates  Systems of planar components are notched together to create a dense, cellular or laminar structure.  Often generated using dense contours in one direction, and framing elements in the other.
  3. Performative Modules on Egg Crate Frames  A field of light modulating components or subassemblies which are attached to an egg crate frame for structural rigidity.  

  1. Create 3-5 schematic grasshopper design definitions.  Each definition should be a discrete design gesture, and must illustrate how the gesture is build-able using your chosen assembly system.  For each definition, identify the critical design drivers and show how variations in these drivers affect the quality of interior light in your home.  Consider how each design will attach to your window - will it hang from the frame? Will it be attached to brackets?  If not, how will it work?