A History of Parametric . The time before Grasshopper, before Samuel Geisberg. I assumed that I should start my thesis here in order to catch the reader up on the last two centuries of developments. Ultimately this history wasn. Parametric design is a method of intelligently designing architectural objects based on relationships and rules using the computer. These are defined in. Find the whole range of programmatic, parametric, sculpting and 3D modeling software. 3D printing design tools for both the Beginner and Professional. A five- thousand word B- side. Hopefully others find more use for this history than I did. Parametric Origins. The term parametric originates in mathematics but there is debate as to when designers initially began using the word. But Robert Stiles (2. Exhibited at the 1. PTC provides technology solutions that transform how products are created and serviced, helping companies achieve product and service advantage. New Forms That Function Better. Parametric design software automatically figures out how changing any parameter of a structure will affect other physical aspects. Parametric Architecture exhibition at the Twelfth Milan Triennial. The stadium derives from. In the five years following the exhibition, between 1. Moretti designed the Watergate Complex, which is . The Watergate Complex is now better known for the wiretapping scandal that took place there and Moretti is . He wrote to his friend Roisecco that . Parametric has a long history in mathematics and the earliest examples I can find of parametric being used to describe three- dimensional models comes almost one hundred years prior to Moretti. One example is James Dana. In the paper Dana explains the general steps for drawing a range of crystals and provisions for variations using language laced with parameters, variables, and ratios. For instance, in step eighteen Dana tells the reader to inscribe a parametric plane on a prism: If the plane to be introduced were 4.
P2 the parametric ratio of which is 4: 2: 1, we should in the same manner mark off 4 parts of e, 2 of . The rest of the twenty- page paper possesses similar statements that explain how various parameters filter through long equations to affect the drawing of assorted crystals. Architecture that has a. Dana does not describe his drawings as parametric, nor does he claim, as Schumacher (2. This definition sets forth two critical criteria: A parametric equation expresses . This is an important point of contention in later definitions since some contemporary architects suggest that correlations constitute parametric relationships. An example of a parametric equation is the formulae that define a catenary curve: These two formulae meet the criterion of a parametric equation. Secondly, the outcomes (x &. This is the origin of the term parametric: a set of quantities expressed as an explicit function of a number of parameters. Analogue Parametric: Gaud. An example from the period includes Sir John Leslie (1. Another example is Samuel Earnshaw (1. These examples of expressing geometry with parametric equations are two of many from the period, a period well before Antoni Gaud. Mark Burry (2. 00. Gaud. It is known that Gaud. At the time, anagrams were a common way to claim the first publication of an idea before the results were ready to publish. The use of parametric equations can be seen in many aspects of Gaud. The hanging chain model originates from Robert Hooke. The hanging chain model has all the components of a parametric equation. There are a set of independent parameters (string length, anchor point location, birdshot weight) and there are a set of outcomes (the various vertex locations of points on the strings) which derive from the parameters using explicit functions (in this case Newtons laws of motion). By modifying the independent parameters of this parametric model Gaud. Via. Compared to the earlier use of parametric equations by scientists and mathematicians, the key innovation of Gaud. Rather than manually calculating the outputs from the catenary curve. This method of analogue computing was enlarged by Frei Otto to include, amongst other things, minimal surfaces derived from soap films and minimal paths found through wool dipped in liquid. Otto (1. 99. 6) calls designing with these models form finding. A phrase that foregrounds the exploratory nature of parametric modelling. This forms an important component of the parametric modelling dogma for architects, namely the utility of parametric models lies in the exploration of outcomes. The original mathematical definition of parametric remains unmodified, these analogue parametric models all have a set of quantities expressed as an explicit function of a number of independent parameters, however this is complemented by a utilitarian emphasis on exploring the possibilities offered by the model. Sketchpad. The digitisation of computation facilitated calculations not possible with Gaud. In much the same way Gaud. Sutherland (1. 96. At a time when computers ran in batch mode and when programming felt like . Sutherland harnessed the computational power of the TX- 2 computer to create Sketchpad, the first interactive computer- aided design program. Using a light pen, a designer could draw lines and arcs, which could then be related to one another with what Sutherland (1. Sutherland never used the word parametric in his writing but the atomic constraints have all the essential properties of a parametric equation; each constraint has a set of outcomes expressed as an explicit function of a number of independent parameters. Each constraint has a set of input variables and an explanation of the explicit functions that transform the variables into the desired outputs. Sketchpad offered a new way to explore parametric equations. But in Sketchpad designers were also free to modify the relationships of the model, which would also cause the recalculation and redrawing of geometry. I will argue shortly that managing a parametric model. The 1. 96. 0s and 1. Sutherland. The setup cost US$5. Much of this innovation failed to take root in architectural practices. Early commercial systems like Itek. A cost bearable only by select automotive and aeronautical companies (Weisberg 2. Twenty years later, in August 1. Auto. CAD was released and quickly rose to dominate the fledgling computer- aided design industry (Weisberg 2. Gone were the curves, the artificial intelligence, and the self- replicating geometries. Replaced in Auto. CAD with commands enabling the designer to explicitly draft two- dimensional lines on screen using a keyboard rather than a pen. Eighteen versions later, in Auto. CAD2. 01. 0, parametric functionality was introduced (forty- three years after Sketchpad) and pronounced in the press release, . Sometimes it takes a while to realise the impact concepts like parametric design will have on practice. Auto. CAD2. 01. 0. In 1. 98. 5, the former mathematics professor Samuel Geisberg founded Parametric Technology Corporation. They shipped what would become the first commercially successful parametric software, Pro/ENGINEER, in 1. Like with Sketchpad, users could associate parts of the Pro/ENGINEER geometry together using various parametric equations. Unlike Sketchpad, the geometry was three- dimensional rather than two- dimensional and changes could propagate over many different drawings created by many different users. During an interview with Industry Week in 1. Geisberg succinctly expressed the original motivations of Pro/ENGINEER and captured, to a large extent, the motivations of parametric modelling: The goal is to create a system that would be flexible enough to encourage the engineer to easily consider a variety of designs. And the cost of making design changes ought to be as close to zero as possible. In addition, the traditional CAD/CAM software of the time unrealistically restricted low- cost changes to only the very front end of the design- engineering process. Geisberg quoted in: Teresko 1. Geisberg makes two salient points. The first is that parametric modelling should enable designers to explore . This is made possible in Pro/ENGINEER both through the manipulation of parameters and through the manipulation of the model. His second point is that parametric models allow choices to be made later in the design process, a point I will return to later in this chapter since deferred decisions continues to be an alluring possibility of parametric modelling. Guggenheim in CATIA. Via. In 1. 99. 3 Dassault Syst. At the time Gehry Partners was employing Rick Smith, a CATIA expert originally from the aerospace industry, to help realise geometrically challenging architecture projects like the Barcelona Fish (1. Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao (1. This work forms the basis of Gehry Partners. Digital Project takes CATIAv. Gehry. Much of Digital Project relies on CATIAv. Only a handful of architecture firms were producing geometry intricate enough to warrant using Digital Project, with the vast majority instead using computers simply to draft and coordinate drawing sets. While some architects stuck to Auto. CAD and its numerous competitors, others chose to adopt specialist building modelling software like Revit and Archi. CAD. Revit Technology Corporation was founded by former Parametric Technology Corporation developers who aspired to create the . Prior to being acquired by Autodesk in 2. Revit website used to greet visitors with a fairly oblique definition of parametric: Revit homepage as of 1. May 2. 00. 0. Via. In essence, the authors of Revit define parametric as an object based on parametric equations that the designer can adjust for particular circumstances. In later versions of the website they explain how a designer might adjust the pitch of the roof and how Revit . While Revit and its ilk undoubtedly use parametric equations for these automatic revisions, unlike fully fledged parametric modelling software such as Pro/ENGINEER, CATIA, or even Sketchpad, the parametric relationships of Revit are hidden behind the interface. The focus is on using parametric models rather than creating them. After Revit was acquired by Auto. Desk the rhetoric around parametric modelling ceased and they coined (some say appropriated) the name Building Information Modelling (BIM) to denote their brand of design (Weisberg 2. In doing so they distinguished BIM from parametric modelling by emphasising the management of information (parameters), as opposed to the management of the parametric model itself. Therefore, while the majority of architecture firms may never use overtly parametric software like Digital Project or Pro/ENGINEER, most .
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