As an architecture student who has recently started taken morphology classes, I have become very interested in parametric modeling, specifically for the purpose of creating smooth minimal surfaces, with no hard corners. In order to model these types of shapes, parametric modeling tools are needed because the software we have is not meant for this type of freehand modelling. With this interest in mind, I immediately knew what type of form I wanted to create for the Privacy Screen. I began researching grasshopper plugins that could be used to create this type of form. By using Kangaroo, I could create a networked vault that creates a hyper smooth minimal surface based on the input of only a few lines. I then created a script that you generate a series of interconnected lines, that varied in terms of radius, offset length, and number of sides. This gave me a wide array of forms that could be created using on a few lines. I inserted a component that also changed the strength of gravity. Once I had this surface I used Weaverbird components to create a pattern within the surface that allowed for gradients of privacy depending on the Z Axis. I also added a component that would change the thickness of the screen. Overall I would consider this experiment to be a successful one. I was able to create a vast library of minimal surface screens, however if I had more time I would like to improve the texture of the surface as well as add more variety in the patterning, maybe randomly closing some opening or combining some to make certain openings larger. I would also like to improve the consistency of outputs, with some not even connecting at all, however this did lead to some fun discoveries as I was going through the series.
SLIDERS
- Radius of Screen
- Number of Sides
- Arm Offset
- Gravity Strength
- Screen Thickness
Parametrics 