Organic Architecture: Geometry and Space

This paper reports the design process for an exposition pavilion using Grasshopper 3D software. This software is a visual programming language developed by David Rutten at Robert McNeel & Associates. It runs within the Rhinoceros 3D CAD application. Programs are created by dragging components onto a canvas. The outputs to these components are then connected to the inputs of subsequent components. Grasshopper is used mainly to build generative algorithms. Many of Grasshopper’s components create 3D geometry. Programs may alsocontain other types of algorithms including numeric, textual, audiovisual and haptic applications. Using a spiral generating curve and changing its parameters such as aperture, the initial snail shape moves towards a limpet. An initial model of the limpet was made with an scale of 1:10. The problems of supports and shape and size of construction elements were solved using this model. Then a 1:1 model was constructed using cardboard elements and a tensegrity support made of three bamboo rods. The full-scale pavilion covered an area of 6 by 8 meters and rose to a height of 2.8 meters. It was designed and built by the students of the Faculty of Architecture and Urban Planning, Shahid Beheshti University and erected in the central lobby of the Faculty.