The weblog of the Block Research Group
Many calculations in structural design involve networks of bars (or branches, edges, …) and nodes (or vertices, …). Essential to these calculations is information about how the elements of the network are connected. This connectivity can be described with a matrix.
Have you seen our new book, Shell Structures for Architecture: Form finding and optimization? It has been co-edited with Sigrid Adriaenssens and Chris Williams, and features 37 authors from around the globe, both from practice and academia. You can order the book here.
In Chapter 6: Force Density Method by Prof. Em. Klaus Linkwitz, this well-known form-finding method is explained in thorough detail. However, page 64, eq. (6.23) simply gives the gradient of four branch lengths relative to the coordinates of their shared node. Here, we provide some additional detail on how the result of that equation is derived.
Just updated and compiled rhinoVAULT v1.1.0.0. It now features RhinoVAULT-specific scripting methods callable in all your scripts (rhinoscript, ironpython). This enables you to easily access RhinoVAULT data such as node coordinates, connectivity information, force magnitudes and more. For example, it is now possible to directly apply geometry components during the actual form finding process.
Ever wonder why most if not all your lecture notes have the same layout? Most likely, they were made using LateX. LateX, pronounced `lay-tech’, is a markup language in which documents can be written before being automatically typeset by a TeX program. It offers programmable desktop publishing, instead of visual (WYSIWYG) desktop publishing offered by programs like Adobe InDesign or Microsoft Word. The reason for using LateX is to focus on content, not on the layout. This does mean giving up a certain amount of control over presentation, or spending disproportionate amounts of time if you wish to enforce certain things in the layout. LateX is also a means to write and possibly share equations. Visual equation editors like MathType use LateX, and all equations in Wikipedia are interpreted from LateX code.
Our silly vaulted design for a dog house, built in stone by Escobedo Construction, won “Best in Show”, and a “green ribbon”, at Barkitecture 2012 in Austin, TX, USA.
The BLOCK Research Group is organizing a seminar week at ETH on masonry vaulting this semester: “Brickworks” (October 22-26, 2012) together with the Chair of Prof. Andrea Deplazes.
Starting with a RhinoVAULT intensive workshop, given by Lorenz Lachauer and Matthias Rippmann, the students will be building some cool vaults, under the guidance of the Catalan vaulting experts from Moudon, Switzerland, Sébastien and Pascal Pittet, and the Mexican vaulting expert from Mexico City, Prof. Alfonso Ramirez Ponce.
