Project 1: Making a 3D model for O&M Building in Texas A&M University

A. Overview

O&M Building is located in Texas A&M University. The Department of Geography, the Department of Oceanography, and the Department of Atmospheric Science belongs to this building. The building has 14 floors in total and is about 210 feet tall.

Figure 1 Birds Eye View of O&M Building (Source: Google Maps)

B.How to make a mass of the building

To come up with the size of the building, I utilized floor plans in .jpg format and .dwg format, as you can see below. The building has the same exterior from the first floor until 12 floors and has different shape from the 13 floors to the top, which is an observatory.

Figure 2 Floor Plans for O&M Building

To make the building form, I have done several steps described below.
    1.Divide the building mass into 10 sections according to its geometry shape.
    2.Set the initial size of the building as 80’ (Depth) by 152’ (Width).
    3.Assign parametric values to the wall to maintain its original shape proportionally.
    4.Check the parametric value works properly by changing its values.

C.How to set parametric information 

Even though the building looks simple, it still have certain things that should be maintained, such as the thickness and location of columns. It is the most challenging part to make this building parametrically changeable.
I divide the entire dimension with two groups: one is parametrically changeable (Red) and the other is not changeable (Blue). The size of columns remain as the same even though the size of building is changed, whereas the walls with windows are changed according to the size of the building.

Figure 3 Model Parameters

There are four parameters for mutable dimensions: Length_Long, Length_Short, Depth_Long, and Depth_Short. Length_Long and Length_Short are located on the Width section, which is the longer part of the building, but Depth_Long and Depth_Short are located on the Depth section which is the shorter part of the building. The equations that are applied to those dimensions is to maintain the ratio for each wall with windows. For example, Length_Long has an equation as follow: “Width * Ratio_1 + ((52 / 152 * Width) - 52') / 3”. “Ratio_1” means a ratio for a wall of the original building; “28 / 152”. With “Width * Ratio_1”, it will proportionally calculate the size of the wall but it still not take into account a certain part, because the size of column (described as blue in above figure) will remain as the same size even if the building become bigger. Thus, I add “((52 / 152 * Width) - 52') / 3” to prevent expected inconsistency.
 
 

Figure 4 Appearances of mass models when parameter is changed

D.How to make a façade of the building

In addition to the mass model, I need to add windows and curtain wall for the building. To make those values as parametric value, I define two additional parameters: Window_Size and Number_of_Mullion. Number of the mullion for each wall will be define by Window_Size. Once the Window_Size and Number_of_Mullion are defined, the façade model will bring two generic adaptive models: Rectangle_Window and Rectangle_Mullion. Rectangle_Windows is to make window from 2nd floor to 11th floor and Rectangle_Mullion is for 1st, 12th, and 14th floor. The appearance of bulding is as follows. Therefore, the window size parameter is changed, it will modify the number of the mullion and the number of the mullion will transfer the value to the number of V Grid of the curtain wall.

E. Results

F. Video