"Waffle" structure shelter

Luis Emilio Lopez_Pamela Zhindon_Rutger Stefan Oor_Sofie van Brunschot

“Waffle” Structure Shelter Bucky Lab CAD Report_

“Waffle” Structure Shelter Content.

01. Four people four ideas.

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Luis Emilio Lopez - Lifting Emergency Shelter.

Pamela Zhindon - Cardboard Modular Bricks.

Rutger Stefan Oor - “Waffle” Structure Shelter.

Sofie van Brunschot - Quarter Isogrid Structure Shelter.

02. The “waffle”structure.

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Why this idea?

The “waffle”structure.

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03. Software in the design process.

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Software which have been used.

3D design process.

Combination of software and prototyping techniques.

04. Conclusions.

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The 3D modeling in the design process.

References.

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter four people four ideas

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

LuisEmilo Lopez - Lifting Emergency Shelter.

The idea behind the project is to develop a shelter made out of mostly cardboard that can be consistently assembled in a series of simple steps, the shelter should be able to adjust to different kinds of climate as well as providing some features out from its shape such as waterproofing, natural temperature control and better use of sunlight. The shelter is able to fit a family of 4 and its purpose is to be used in situations of natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes or floods. Also economy, packing and transportation were taken into consideration in order to develop the idea.

The project consists of three major components, a lifting honeycomb structure, a base substructure to gain height and a covering fabric. The secondary components are a base perimeter and a floor mat for the inside.

The lifting structure is an hexagonal, cornered filleted of 3100x3100 mm, 20 mm corrugated cardboard plate, the plate hast a series of cuts inside the shape that go around and into the center of the shape. These cuts follow the external profile and are separated an equivalent distance of 150 mm one from the other.

The cuts in the plate provide the shape of a honeycomb structure once it gets lifted from the center, result it an inverted cone like shape shelter strengthened by a light weight honeycomb structural pattern. Once the honeycomb is lifted, diagonal reinforcements ribs are added, each of the ribs has a connection to the columns of the substructure.

The covering fabric proceeds in order to start protecting the structure and gain time while putting it on to the sub-structure. It has to be known that lifting cardboard in such a way can be a bit hard since the material in such a way is strong, on the other side that characteristic helps to assure that the lifting structure plus the reinforcement ribs are enough to support the geometry.

The substructure consists in a set of six 150x150 mm columns of 1100 mm meters height in cardboard profile that are reinforced with scissor like pivoted structure that attach from a column to another, building a substructure around a perimeter that that to be previously set along with the floor mat, this to determine the position of the shelter. The next step will consist of setting the second part of the perimeter on top the substructure in order to receive the lifting structure with the covering fabric. Once the covering fabric is taken down completely, the shelter gets fully covered and it is ready to be used.

In the scenario of package and delivery a big box could be used where the panel for the lifting structure will dictate the size of the packing, the same box should be able to contain all the pieces needed for the assembly of the shelter.

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Assemble Package (Figure 01).

Assemble procedure 1 (Figure 02).

Assemble procedure 2 (Figure 03).

Perspective drawing of the shelter (Figure 04).

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Pamela Zhindon - Cardboard Modular Bricks.

The aim of the Bucky Lab Cardboard Project was to create a cardboard shelter. There were two different approaches for its development. I chose the one, that focuses in create shelter for homeless people in the city. Some parameters for this project were established: • Since cardboard is the assigned material, structure and covering should be made of it.

• Although the architectural program was not developed, it was necessary to determine the type of shelter of the design. The project aims to be the temporary place where people can stay after they are taken from the streets. Hence, this parameter would influence in the scale of the project.

After analysing this aspects, I ended up with the idea of creating modular cardboard blocks, which can be assemble together and work as an whole structure. In the developing of these blocks, different volumes were tried both physically and digitally. I decided to use the structural properties of the triangle in order to provide strength to the cardboard module. So, I used the platonic solids: • Octahedron as the main structure: walls and roofs.

• Tetrahedron as the modules that would be used to join.

For the development of the conceptual idea of the shape, the use of Maya helped me to visualize the different options of placing and laying the bricks. In a first stage, the project consisted on only one type of module. It was a tetrahedron. At this point, Maya was not the best option for modeling the project, due to the exactitude and precision required to align the modules. Nevertheless, a script to generate a module aligned to one surface was created to facilitate the arrangement of them. Although the use of this command helped to create the geometry easily, I realized that this type of module, the tetrahedron, was too flexible to create the desired kind of shelter.

Therefore, another type of module was introduced: an octahedron. This new module was settled as the main structure of the design, and the tetrahedron as the connectors between walls and roof. The use of Maya for the arrangement of the principal module was very practical.

The scale of each module was around 1500x1500x1500 mm. This size would allow that three people carry the module. However for the assembly, it would be necessary the use of a crane. The design aims to be consider as a semi temporal movable urban-architectural sculpture.

Nevertheless, the weak part of the project is the connection between them.

This aspect was not developed due to the lack of time.

• Platonic solits (Figure 05).

• Four sides of the shelter (Figure 06).

• Photograph of a physical model (Figure 07).

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter

Rutger Stefan Oor - “Waffle”Structure Shelter .

Since the main goal of the studio was to design a lightweight and an easy to transport paper shelter, I realized that I had to find an idea that will take advantage of the properties of the material in order to create a strong, lightweight, economic and easy transportable shelter. In this context, I started shaping my idea.

The paper, as a material, it is not suitable for the outer layer of a shelter due to the fact that it is not waterproof. For that reason I knew that my shelter should be covered by another material like a waterproof textile. So I realized that I had to use the properties of paper in order to create a structure that will protect the people who are going to live there and that will give also the final shape of the shelter. As a paper material I chose the corrugated cardboard because it has a good weight – stiffness ratio, in comparison with the gray cardboard which is heavier. So I decided to design a “waffle” structure which is consists of ribs in two directions perpendicular to each other. By selecting this type of structure, we can have thin ribs and at the same time a strong structure due to the grid.

The ribs in both directions are like rings allowing the floor of the shelter to be lifted from the ground, avoiding the moisture problem and letting the water from the rain to pass through and not gather underneath the shelter. Also because it is really important to cluster the shelter with other shelters and create bigger spaces, I designed two doors with a 90° relationship, one in each rib direction.

In order to have an easy transportable shelter, each rib will be divided in 6 or 7 parts, which will have almost the same size. The division of the ribs allows all the parts to fit in small box. Each part will be tagged because the users of the shelter will have to take the pieces and assemble the ribs with specific connections. Finally the structure is covered by a prefabricated waterproof textile that it is going to be installed to the structure, from the users, as a “sweater”.

In this “waffle” structure concept, the future users will take a box with the rib parts and their connections. First they will have to assemble the ribs with their connections and with tools that their also included in the box. After they have created the ribs, they will have to assemble the structure. Finally, they will have to install the prefabricated covering and then the shelter is ready for use.

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Structure and Cover (Figure 08).

Lamination and parts of the rib (Figure 09).

Plan and Landscape plan of the shelter (Figure 10).

Detail of a rib (Figure 11).

Rendering of the shelter (Figure 12).

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Sofie van Brunschot - Quarter Isogrid Structure Shelter.

The main requirement for the cardboard refugee shelter was that it would provide an easy to assemble, simple structure that would provide protection from external conditions and that used the structural properties of cardboard optimally. lt was also important that the shelter would need the least amount of material and the least expertise and time to assemble. Finally it should be easy to pack and transport, making it cheaper to provide the shelters.

The starting point was to use the cardboard more structurally than just as flat sheets of cardboard. Therefore the cardboard was used as ribs instead of plates, with loading in the long direction, using its strength optimally. A structure for the ribs was sought and different patterns for a grid were considered. Both a rectangular and a triangular grid were considered, yet in the end a quarter isogrid was chosen. The triangular shaped grid would provide stability compared to the rectangular grid, but a quarter isogrid would do this in the same way with less material. These ribs could now be used to create any desired shape, keeping themselves in place by interlocking connections that remain perpendicular throughout the whole structure.

The shape was determined by a hexagonal floor plan that forms the base of a dome. The hexagonal shape was chosen so that it would be easy to cluster multiple shelters together. This shape would give a lot more options to combine shelters and many different compositions could be achieved this way. The hexagonal base shape also worked perfectly with the quarter isogrid. Canopies that extend from the dome were added to the design to be able to lock the domes together and create smooth connections, resulting not just in “hallways” between the shelters, but melting two shelters into one area.

The covering was not developed fully at this point, but was to be made of a cloth covering the entire structure to provide protection from rain, wind, snow, sun, etc.

In short, the main concept for the refugee shelter was a simple dome with hexagonal floor plan, consisting of multiple interlocking ribs that were arranged in a quarter isogrid pattern. The ribs provide optimal use of the strengths of cardboard and also make for a flat packaging system, easy to pack and transport, thus reducing CO2 emissions and costs. By using ribs, the amount of material needed for the shelter was also kept to a minimum. The simplicity of the system and the dome shape made for an easily assembled structure, perfect for emergency situations where speed and simplicity are key factors.

• Explode of a fragment of the shelter (Figure 13).

• Clustering of the shelters (Figure 14).

• Elavation of the shelter (Figure 15).

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter the “waffle” structure

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Right after the elevator pitch, all students had to form groups of 3 or 4 people, based on their ideas. The “Waffle” Structure Shelter and the Quarter Isogrid Structure Shelter projects were joined because both of them had a dome-like shape created by a rib structure. The Lifting Emergency Shelter joined the group because that shelter had a textile cover that could be combined with the dome ribs structure. Finally the Cardboard Bricks project completed the group, due to the fact that the bricks could be used as a filling of the structure and could increase the stiffness of the shelter.

At that moment basically we had to decide with which structure we are going to proceed. In order to do that, we made 3D models of both structure types, based on the same dome (Figure 16). From these models we created drawing and we made two physical models in scale 1:2, from a fragment of each dome. When we finished the physical models we realized that the quarter isogrid structure was difficult to assemble and at the same time it was weaker than the “waffle” structure. Quarter isogrid wasn’t that strong, because the cardboard ribs weren’t perpendicular to each other and as a result the connections weren’t tight enough. Therefore we chose to proceed with the “Waffle” structure concept.

In the meanwhile, we also replaced the idea of filling the grid of the structure with cardboard boxes, with the compression members, because we wanted the structure to be highly visible from the users and the pedestrians. Finally, we manage to use the idea of a textile cover from the Lifting Emergency Shelter and we kept it also at the version of our shelter.

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

Why this idea?

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter

The “waffle”structure.

The first two weeks after the Elevator Pitch, our group was researching about the shape of the shelter. Considering the fact that we could have an enormous variety of shapes, because of the freedom that the “waffle” structure could give us, we started to design more extreme shapes. While we were designing more extreme shapes, we realized that we were increasing the materials and the cost of the shelter and at the same time we had a lot of problems at the assembling of the ribs, due to the complexity of the shape. Because of that, we took the decision to search for a simple and symmetrical shape. Finally we selected the half dome shape with two doors of a 90° relationship for the clustering of the shelter.

The total height of the shelter is 3000 mm, the clearance is 2730 mm, the thickness of the shell is 130 mm, the maximum width is 3250 mm and the clearance of the doors is 1850 mm (Figure 17).

After we chose the shape, we started designing the ribs of the “waffle” structure. Each direction has 10 ribs and because the shape is symmetrical, the rib of one direction has the same shape as the equivalent rib of the other direction. Since we knew that the thickest available corrugated cardboard was the 6.4 mm we decided to made the ribs from 3 layers and ended up with a rib thickness of 19.2 mm. The ribs of the one direction have the connection cutting at the top side and the ribs of the other direction at the bottom side (Figure 18). Instead of having ring ribs, which are impossible to assemble them and make the shelter, we divided the ribs to floor ribs and dome ribs (Figure 19). In order to connect the two ribs, we designed wooden clamps on which the floor and dome ribs will be attached (Figure 20).

In order to have an easily transportable shelter we had to divide the ribs in pieces of a maximum length 1500 mm. So, from 20 roof ribs and 20 floor ribs we created 106 rib parts, that we could put them all in a box of 1500 mm length and 1000 mm width. All the rib parts are designed like it is showed in the drawing (Figure 21) and the future user have to glow the parts together. When the users have finished with the clueing, they will have 40 ribs and they are ready to start the assembling of the shelter. First they have to assemble the floor ribs, then to put the 24 clamps at the correct place and screw the bolts to attach the clamps permanently to the floor ribs (Figure 22). Then they can start putting all the roof ribs that have the connection cuttings at the top side with the help of the door rib of the other direction (Figure 23). Finally they can put all the ribs of the other direction and screw all the roof ribs with bolts at the wooden clamps and then the structure is assembled (Figure 24).

For the stability of the structure, we have two different elements. The first one is the cardboard L shape, which we used in order to connect permanently the ribs of the one direction to the door rib of the other direction (Figure 25). And the second element is a compression member that it is placed in the rectangles of the grid to make the structure stronger and more stable (Figure 26).

The floor is made out of plywood of 18 mm thickness, but because of its size (3000x3000 mm) we had to divide it in smaller pieces, so that they can fit in the transportation box together with all the other parts (Figure 27). Finally there is the cover of the shelter, which is consists from two layers of a waterproof textile and in between these two layers based on the grid of the structure there is an insulating material for the insulation of the shelter (Figure 28).

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter Software in the design process

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

Software which have been used.

By choosing the idea of a shelter with a “waffle” structure, we knew that we can design many different shapes with different details for each one of them.

Therefore, we used a series of software that helped us to visualize different shapes and after we chose the best shape they helped us with the detailing of the structure and the shelter. These software are: Rhinoceros.

“Rhinoceros is commercial 3d computer graphics software, based on NURBS mathematical model, which focuses on producing mathematically precise representation of curves and freeform surfaces.”

At the beginning we used Rhino to design a series of different shelter shapes, because we wanted each shape to be accurate, so that we could see all the possible problems. After we selected the desirable shape with Rhino we manage to design that shape more accurately and we created the “waffle” structure and all the big and small details, like the wooden clamps, the compression members etc.

T-Splines.

“T-Splines are a computer-aided design surface with special properties, which improves upon traditional CAD technology while retaining compatibility.”

While we were searching for the desirable shape, we discovered T-Splines which is a plugin for Rhino. With T-Splines we were able to create more complex shapes, where until now it was difficult in Rhino. That happened due to the fact that with T-Splines we could add detail in specific parts of the surfaces, create non-rectangular topologies, easily edit complex freeform models and maintain NURBS compatibility. Although that software was really helpful, we decided to select the dome shape and therefore we didn’t use it for the selected idea.

Grasshopper.

“Grasshopper is a visual programming language which runs within the Rhinoceros 3D. Definitions are created by dragging components onto a canvas. Grasshopper is used mainly to build generative algorithms.”

When the shape was finalized, we used Grasshopper in order to produce the ribs of the structure together with their connection cuttings. Grasshopper was really helpful due to the fact that we were saving a lot of time every time that we were adjusting the shape or when we had to change the density of the grid of the thickness of the ribs for structural reasons.

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“RhinoNest is nesting software for Rhinoceros, which allows us to optimize the position and orientation for cutting material in different sectors, as well as architecture, furniture-making etc.”

Before we build our structure in 1:1 scale, we had to nest the 360 rib parts and also the 72 clamp pieces, in order to make them fit perfectly in cardboard and plywood sheets with specific dimensions. Therefore we used RhinoNest which manage to nest all these pieces and parts in just a few seconds in to sheets with the given dimensions (2400x1200 mm). Finally we were able to ask for the exact number of cardboard and plywood sheets that we are going to need, without wasting a lot of material.

AutoCAD. “AutoCAD is software for 2D and 3D computer-aided design and drafting.”

After nesting the rib parts and the clamp pieces, we exported them to AutoCAD. We did that because we wanted to process the drawings them further, in order to print them and use them as guides for cutting the cardboard and wooden pieces as well as to send them for laser cutting for draft models. Finally we used that software to produce the drawing and the details of the shelter for the presentation of the project.

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

RhinoNest.

Diana.

“Diana is finite element software, equipped with very powerful solvers, which enables the analysis of large and/or complex structures.”

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After the building weeks, we used Diana to make the structural analysis of our structure and to see if our design is strong enough or not. So we used Diana to calculate if the most important ribs are strong enough to protect the users and that they will not collapse under the extreme weather conditions and how many people can be inside the shelter without damaging the floor.

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

3D design process.

Designing the section of the shelter.

In order to start shaping our dome shelter, we designed the central cross section in Rhino and we applied there the properties that we wanted our shelter to have. The first section that we drew was a half circle, but we realized that we have two problems. The first one was that an average person can walk easily in the center of the shelter but not at the edges of the room, since the curvature of the dome makes it difficult. The second problem was that in order to make two openings for the doors, with a clearance of 1850 mm, we were losing a lot square meters from the interior space. The way to solve both problems at ones, was to increase the height if the dome, where as a result the side surface of the shelter was more inclined that before, allowing the users to walk easily on any part of the shelter and avert the cutting for the two doors to reduce the interior space a lot (Figure 29).

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Creating the volume.

After finalizing the central cross section of the shelter we create in Rhino the shape of the dome. In order to do that we kept only the half section and we revolved it around the central z-axis (Figure 30). Right after, with the help of two surfaces we created the two doors with a relationship of 90° (Figure 31). For these two surfaces, we used the cross section to found the correct place that we should put them.

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Creating the ribs in Grasshopper.

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After we created the desired shape for the shelter, we created a definition in Grasshopper, in order to create the ribs with their connection cuttings

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Once we created the input components, we were ready to start the creation of the definition. First we created a Bounding Box in order to gain the rectangle in x, y plane, where the shelter fits exactly inside. To do that, we used Box Corners and we inputted the A, B, C, D output parameters to a Polyline. Then, we had the edges of the rectangle that we needed. From that rectangle we could create a grid where its every line is a rib, but then the edges of the rectangle had to be offset half of the rib thickness to the inside. We have to do the offset because the lines from the grid are going to be in the middle of the rib thickness.

So we used Offset and as a distance we used the half of the thickness of the ribs (Figure 34).

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

(Figure 32). Before we started the definition we decided that we want 4 inputs, the Geometry of the shelter, the thickness of the ribs and the number of ribs in each direction. Therefore the first think that we did when we started creating the definition was to make one Geometry component for the shape of the shelter and 3 Number Sliders for the thickness and the number of ribs (Figure 33). In order to describe better the definition from now on the components are going to be written with blue color, because otherwise we would have to repeat the word “component” very often.

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After we created the correct rectangle, we had to isolate all the edges and for that we used Explode and we put the outputs in 4 different List Item, so that we can peak every time a different edge. After that, we had 2 X direction lines and 2 Y direction and we divide them with Divide Curve. As a division number we are going to use our first inputs for the number of the ribs in each direction.

If we connected the points for the lines with the same direction we would have to sets of lines. From the 2 X direction lines we had a set of lines in Y direction and the other way around with the other lines. The, we could use the Extrude in the Z direction, for both of the sets in order to create vertical surfaces that we were going to intersect with our geometry and create the ribs. Finally we scaled them to be sure that they are going to intersect our geometry. For the intersection, we used the Brep/ Brep separately for the two sets of surfaces and as a result we had the edges of each rib. In order to go from ribs edges to surface ribs we used Boundary Surfaces (Figure 35).

“Waffle� Structure Shelter

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After we created the ribs, we wanted to create also the connection cuttings. For that purpose, we used once again Brep/ Brep and we got the intersection lines between the ribs of the two directions. Right after, we extruded these lines in order to create boxes with the same height and with the same thickness in both X, Y direction, the thickness of the ribs. For making the connection cuttings, we had to move all these boxes up, with a distance of half of their height for the ribs of the one direction, and down with the same distance for the rest of the ribs.

First of all we had to find the height of the boxes. For that we used Deconstruct Box and we divided the Z output by half, creating the desired distances. Finally we moved up and down the set of boxes by the distance that we had and then we had two different sets of boxes in different height. The top surfaces of the one set of boxes were the same with the bottom surfaces of the other set (Figure 36).

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Right after we used the boxes to make the connection cutting at the surface ribs that we created earlier. Therefore, we used Trim Solid and we combined the ribs of the X direction with the lower boxes and the ribs of the Y direction with the higher boxes. Then we had our surface ribs with the connection cutting and we had to give a thickness to the ribs. So finally we extruded the surface ribs in both directions by the initial thickness input and the structure was ready(Figure 37).

In that definition the user can use different geometries, adjust at any time the thickness of the ribs and change the number of ribs in both directions separately (Figure 38).

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“Waffle� Structure Shelter 38

Creating the 3 layers for the ribs and the wooden clamps.

After we produced the basic shapes of the ribs in Grasshopper, we had to redesign them in Rhino, based on the 3 layers of 6.4 mm cardboard sheets. At the same time we designed in Rhino, the L shape wooden clamps based on the 3 layer principal of the ribs. By that way, the middle layer ribs can penetrate into the clamp, in order to be bolted together (Figure 39).

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Dividing the ribs in parts.

After we were done with the ribs and the wooden clamps, we had to divide the ribs in parts with a length less than 1500 mm. In order to make the parts, we took each rib in rhino and we measured its length and we figured out in how many pieces we should divide it. At the same time we were careful, because the division should have been between two of the rib’s connection cuttings, avoiding making the rib weaker. Our main goal was to avoid using additional parts for assembling each rib from the different parts. For that reason we used a female male lamination method between the different parts, where the can be attached together only by glue. The penetration of a part to the next one is for 200 mm (Figure 40).

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Designing and placing the cardboard L shapes.

Although all the ribs with the help of the wooden clamps work as one structure, the door ribs are not attached with the ribs of the other direction (Figure 41).

For that reason we had to design cardboard L shaped angles (100x100x70 mm) that will connect the door ribs to the perpendicular ribs. In Rhino we designed the angles and we placed also the holes for the bolts (Figure 42). Finally we placed the angles at the desired places on the structure.

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Designing and placing the compression members.

In order to make the structure stiffer and more resistant, we had to design the compression members and place them at the proper place on the structure.

After a research we found the desired detail and we designed it in Rhino (Figure 43). Finally, we placed the compression members on the structure.

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After the whole structure was ready in Rhino, we designed the floor. For the floor, we started from a circular shape, we cut out all the intersecting with the structure pieces and we cut out also the parts that were remaining out of the structure. Then we engrave a grid on the surface of the floor same with the grid of the structure and with the thickness of the ribs. Finally, we divided the floor in pieces smaller than 1500x1000 mm at the grid lines, in order all the parts to fit in the transportation box (Figure 44).

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Designing the covering.

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

Designing the floor.

The final step for the completion of the 3D model we had to design the cover and the insulation of the shelter. Since we were one of the cardboard projects, we didn’t design in detail the covering. Instead very roughly we designed in Rhino the textile covering, which is consists from textile stripes. For the insulation of the shelter, we designed in Rhino cushions and we place them in the grid of the structure (Figure 45).

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Combination of software and prototyping techniques.

Maya-Rhino.

All the members of the group before the Elevator Pitch used Maya, in order to learn it and to make the shape of the shelter easier and with a more parametric why of design. But after we chose the as a main concept the “waffle” structure, we directly used Rhino which is a more accurate software in matter of shape forming and detailing. Therefore there wasn’t any connection between the two software.

Geometry types.

During the 3D design process we used exclusively NURB geometries. As we described earlier, we started by drawing the section of the shelter in Rhino. In order to design the section, we used NURB curves as well as two point lines. After the section we created the solid shape of the shelter, which was consisted by NURB surfaces. Also the ribs that we produce with the help of Grasshopper were solid shapes with NURB surfaces. After the ribs, we started creating all the parts of the shelter, the floor, the wooden clamps, the compressive members and the cardboard L shapes. All these shapes where also solid geometries which were consisted by NURB surfaces. Finally, we began designing the cover from an NURB surface, which we offseted and we create a solid shape, so that the cover would have a thickness. The reason why we used only NURB geometries was the fact that we created all the shapes from a NURB curves or from other solid geometries which were consisted by NURB surfaces.

Combination with other programs.

Beside the export of drawings that we did from Rhino to AutoCAD, we didn’t use our 3D model in combination with other programs. The only combination that we had was between the Rhino model and the Grasshopper and RhinoNest, were both of them are plugins of Rhino. Although we used Diana for the structural analysis of the shelter, we didn’t transfer any information from Rhino, we just created from the beginning one rib and the slab, with points and lines.

Rapid prototyping techniques.

Between the tree rapid prototyping techniques, CNC milling, laser cutting and 3D printing, we used only the last one of them for physical models. While we were still searching for the desired shape and number of ribs, we created two physical models in scale 1:20. In order to make this models, we made first a simple 3d model with only ribs and the floor and we nested all the pieces in a given sheet size with the help of RhinoNest. Then we exported the nested pieces as a drawing in AutoCAD and we send the drawing to be laser cut on a 2 mm MDF sheet (Figure 46). When the laser cutting was ready, we took the pieces and we assemble the physical models (Figure 47).

Although we didn’t use all the rapid prototyping techniques, with the 3D model that we had, we could have created the 1:1 scale shelter exclusively by

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these prototyping techniques. For instance, in order to make the pieces of the wooden clamps and the parts of the floor, we could have given our drawings from the 3D model to a CNC milling machine for accurate cuttings. Also we could have used the nested parts of the drawing for laser cutting, which would be again faster and more accurate. Finally we were able to send the bolts and parts from the compression members for 3D printing.

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conclusions “Waffle” Structure Shelter

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter

Because of the Bucky Lab CAD course, some of the members of the group had the chance to learn and some other to improve their skills on Maya, Rhino, Grasshopper and other programs that we combined with them.

At the first stage of the design process, before the elevator pitch, we used Maya because it is a program in which you design easily complicated shapes and geometries, without wasting time in the accuracy and the detailing of the model. Maya is one of the most suitable programs for that phase, the phase that architects are seeking for the desired concept, shape and proportions of the project.

When we had finalized the concept of our project, we used Rhino that helped us design really accurately the shape of our shelter. Rhino is a powerful software that helps the design process, because with it you can design you details fast and accurate and also make changes at any moment of that process.

In Rhino we were able to see the problems of our design and solve them immediately, as well as to develop the initial shape to really detailed model, which is ready to be constructed.

Another software that helped us a lot the during the design process, was Grasshopper. With the definition that we build in Grasshopper, we saved a huge amount of time, since with that definition we could produce a “waffle” structure out of any shape. The most important thing, it was that we could change at any point the thickness of the ribs and the density of the grid. Because of that definition we did never hesitate to make any changes to the shape of the shelter.

With the help of RhinoNest we saved a lot of time and materials. For the two 1:20 models where we used the laser cutting and for the final model with 1:1 scale we used that software to nest all the different parts and arrange them almost perfectly in the sheets. In all three cases that was achieved only in a few seconds, were manually we would have to spend a lot of time.

Also because of the CAD course, we experienced the combination of two or more programs in order to achieve the desirable result. For example in our project it wouldn’t be that easy to design that model without the use of both Rhino and Grasshopper. Furthermore, we experienced how more productive and accurate is to create a physical model with the help of a rapid prototyping technique like laser cutting.

Finally, we realized that without those 3D tools and prototyping techniques it would be difficult to understand the problems of our project and because of the difficulty of the design perhaps we would have chosen to simplify it. But with their help we manage to work more productive, we experimented more and we manage to design a really detailed 3D model of our shelter.

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The 3D modeling in the design process.

“Waffle” Structure Shelter

References.

• • • • • • •

Rhinoceros ( https://www.rhino3d.com ) T-Splines ( http://www.tsplines.com ) Grasshopper( http://www.grasshopper3d.com ) RhinoNest ( http://www.rhinonest.com ) AutoCAD ( http://www.autodesk.com/products/autocad/overview ) Diana ( http://tnodiana.com ) TU-Delft Laser cutting information ( http://www.tudelft-architecture.nl/ chairs/ form-modelling-studies/education/modelling-techniques/camlab ) • NURBS ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-uniform_rational_B-spline ) • Polygons ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polygonal_modeling )

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“Waffle” Structure Shelter