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1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 2 final_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 9:02 AM Page 59
Finding a process ›SHoP Architects PC: 290 Mulberry› Chapter summaryThree-dimensional computer
model
This model was used to show the
location of the differently configured
undulating panels on the façade.‘Make the office a lab, a boardroom, a theatre, a classroom.’
SHoP Architects PCSoftware such as ‘Digital Project’ and ‘Generative
Components’ were used to help model and resolve the
complex geometry as the design evolved, and to ensure that
the limits on proportional projection over the property line
were not exceeded. In addition, the panels were designed
and drawn using software that fed the data into a Building
Information Modelling (BIM) program called ‘Revit’. BIM
tracks design changes in real time, increasing the efficiency,
incorporating engineering data, calculating the changing
costs and reducing the risk of errors in a complex project.
Data from the drawing process was also used to assist with
the construction of the undulating form that had been
designed. A flexible plastic form liner was produced from an
original positive Computer Numerical Control (CNC), milled
from digital drawings produced by SHoP Architects and a
fabricator. This liner needed to be very accurate to ensure
the correct placement of bricks and mortar joints. It was used
to hold the bricks in place within the form while being cast.
The resulting precast panels were transported to site ready
for installation.
The use of digital tools to process data produced by
the architects’ drawings in real time is not only efficient,
it also allows the designer to take on more complex design
problems without compromising the ambition for the project.
The consequences of different design options can be more
quickly and more fully understood before the designer
has become irrevocably committed to them. This form of
predictive modelling gives the architect both visual imagery
and interpreted data; with this, they can make a critical
judgement that is simultaneously objective and subjective
about how to proceed with their design.Text
1st ProofTitle: BA: Architectural Design
Job No: PD0710-67/4028Chapter 2 final_.qxd:layouts to chapter one 7/24/10 9:02 AM Page 59