Defamiliarization

    Stairs: Connecting Function and Art
    Matthew Dunham

    Stemming off of what Nick replied I think it is fascinating how architecture is built for a purpose: to protect, secure and shelter those within it. But practical things such as the ballet railings in Anderson’s project which bridge the gap between art and function, and are not only wooden poles mounted to a wall. This is the staircase in the Museum of Modern/Contemporary Art in Chicago. It is first and foremost practical to bring visitors up and down through the building but it also is a stunning clean-line form which becomes its own art display. Like in Anderson’s model the flow of the dancer was calculated as was the most natural flow of people through the space. Turning something simple into a focal point.

    External Source link -

Project

    01.01 Reparameterization: Converting a Grasshopper Designed Ballet Barre into AutoCAD
    Ari Anderson

    1 - Rhino Barre Iteration

    The initial Rhino + Grasshopper design essentially dealt with distances from a starting Wall and the interaction between points on the wall and points moved away from the wall.  The points moved away from the wall formed the Ballet Barre and the points on the wall became where the supports hit.  The lines connecting the two sets of points were  used to form arched supports.

     

    2 - Barre Design 1 Annotated

    3 - Barre Design 5 Annotated

    The annotated image shows how the Grasshopper inputs are affecting the proportions of the Barre in Elevation.  This familiarization allows for a reinterpretation in AutoCAD.

    The AutoCAD iterations use the same geometric relationships as the Grasshopper model.  AutoCAD however has different tools to construct and parametrize geometry.  Where Grasshopper assumes the information needed to create parametric curves, AutoCAD requires the information  required to create the curve be parametrized first.  Once the “construction lines” for the model are set, then one can attach curves to that geometry.