Category: Blog

The Mathias Pliessing is made of plane C shaped beams, which support smaller plied strips of wood. The process was very slow just for building one version of it in Rhino.

In Grasshopper the process was much easier. First two major curves serve as base for N number of other smaller curves, which were populated, in the first ones. Secondly, the new layer of lines gave place for a new population of curves. The outside layer of parallel lines is perpendicular to the ones underneath it and has smaller transversal dimensions. Finally, the parameters are the chosen base curves and all these beams and ribs that can vary on their number. Moreover there are three longitudinal sections on the beams that vary according to a graph that serves as a driver. Among several advantages, which make the process faster, building the bench with GH allows a change of several parameters that generates the “evolution of the chair”.

Teak Bench Parameters Presentation

For my bench I wanted to adjust the curvature of the form.  I accomplished this by creating parameters that allowed me to modify the base curve, the back curve, and the shape of the ribs.  For the base and back curves I used the graph mapper tool to change the shape of the curves.  The process I used to build the ribs allowed me to play with the form.  I created points that I drew a curve through to generate the ribs.  I attached sliders to Y and Z values of the points so the curvature of the ribs could be adjusted.

Since my bench is composed of ribs I wanted to play with the density and dimensions of the ribs to further change the look of the bench.  I was able to adjust the number of ribs and the width and depth of the ribs by using sliders.  To create the parameter for the number of ribs I first drew a line in Rhino and divided it in Grasshopper.  I attached a slider to control the number of divisions. I built the ribs referencing the division points so when I moved the slider to change the number of divisions the number of ribs also changed.  To modify the width and depth of the ribs I used the offsetting tool and attached a slider to it.

This video quickly demonstrates how the form of my bench is altered as I modify the parameters I created in Grasshopper.

This video demonstrates the process I went through to build my parametric bench in Grasshopper.

contours

extrude from curve + trim

using the images above, the surfaces on the left: heightfield / on the right: meshheightfield