Revit Computational Design - RTC 2014 Competition Entry

Pump up the Volume - Computational design with slider controls

Above is an image of my competition entry for the innovation category of the drawing competition at RTC 2014.
It may not be such a flashy image, but the intent was to show innovation in the use of Revit as a design tool using 100% pure Revit without any Dynamo or API add-ins.

What is in the image?

• On the right is a mass model representing a twisting building with a sloping top;  the green rectangle represents an angled "solar access cutting plane" that prevents the building going any higher than defined but adjustable height controls.
• On the left is a series of slider controls that can be used to change the dimensions of the mass model, along with its degree of twist; 
• There are also slider and rotating controls for the solar access cutting plane, which set the base cutting height, sun angle and azimuth so that overshadowing can be evaluated at different times of day and year just by rotating the dials in Revit.
• There is also a mass floor area schedule and tags that automatically update, as well as calculate the Floor Space Ratio (FSR) of the building mass.

How was this done?

• The slider controls are line based components, placed into a model;  they have shape handles that can be dragged
• The Mass family is an in-place mass that is built onto a series of adaptive component rigs
• The Adaptive Component rigs have several free adaptive points that are snapped onto the sliders;  the distance between the adaptive points is measured using reporting parameters
• Changes in reporting parameter distances drive changes in the adaptive rigs, which in turn change the mass family that is hosted onto the rigs.

All of this is clearly described in the handout notes that accompanied my presentations "Pump up the Volume" at RTC 2014 in Australia (Melbourne) and North America (Chicago).  Hopefully I will get time to publish the technique in more detail on this blog in the future.  Alternatively you can download the presentation from the RTC website if you attended either conference;  or wait until they become available on AUGI later this year.


Refer to this post for a link to a youtube video