The ‘Architectural Communication: Building Information Modelling’ (UTS | Summer | 2016) course introduced students to computational design within a BIM environment. Run as an elective over 3 weekends (6-days, 36hrs), the course covered basic and advanced modelling techniques using Autodesk Revit 2015. A key focus of the course was Dynamo, Revit’s visual programming language, and its ability to embed associative logic into a BIM model.
Studio synopsis
Students were asked to form teams of three and research stadia design in order to identify a series of rule-based constraints, including:
- Pitch size;
- Seating capacity;
- C-values; and
- Seating bowl geometry.
Next, teams were required to model a sectional portion of a stadium. Students had the option to either using an existing stadium or their own custom design. The workflow methodology was heavily emphasised and students were encouraged to use Dynamo where possible and then to document how this brought intelligence to their project.
In addition to a standard drawing sets as the main deliverable, special emphasis was placed on advanced representation techniques of both geometry and data. To represent geometry, students were encouraged to produce 3D sectional views, exploded axonometrics and renders. In order to visualise data, students were asked to produce a series of schedules and coloured plans. These views highlighted various parameters in the BIM database. For example, quality of views, distance from pitch, value of seat, etc. Through the generation of these specialised workflows, students gained an understanding of rule-based design, data management, analysis and optimisation.
Outcomes
