Parametric Modeling Processing on Plafonds (藻井Grasshopper)

Damon Wu ft. TArch Lab 2016

Keywords: Taiwanese Wood Construction, Plafonds, Parametric Design, Grasshopper, 藻井, 木構

This study is attempt to apply parametric processes to the plafonds construction in Taiwanese traditional architecture. The traditional "plafonds" are usually showing the best of craftsmanship in traditional building. However, this construction type is tremendously complex, and most of research are only investigation and record the existing. Hence, this research tried to break down each component and scale relationship to parameters and provide a flexible and controllable 3-D information model which can help the understanding of Taiwanese traditional wood construction.

 GH definition herehttps://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzzYnXuPfNliWThBNVVBdi1Ka2M

The study proposes:

•    The principle analysis of traditional Plafonds, case studies from Longshan temple and Confucius Temple in Taipei
•    Study the Scale relationship also considering Song´s State Building Standards from China
•    Turn the framework into geometry principle, setup the variables for the total system (number of Stages, layers height, width, edge numbers, twisted angles…etc.)
•    Break down each components to controllable parameters
•    According to the intersection condition to create Tenon-joints on each components. (also re-align list and gives numbers if necessary)
(photo1. Plafond from Confucius Temple in Taipei)

The research results find out that:
•    Some rules (parameters) in Song´s State Building Standards from China is not really suit in Taiwanese Plafonds system, for instance like twist or circler type, will cause error or self-intersect. Is might reflecting the unique characteristic of Taiwanese architecture.
•    In terms of fabrication and reproduction, not only marking numbers and notation the components, this model can easier combine with translate the intersection cut to milling machine, or robot arm.
•    For further study like structure analyze still need to be established, especially in wood structure, extending the information model for rebuild or conservation.
(Figure2. Top perspective from the result of this research)

 1st. step, Turn the framework into geometry principle setup all variables. (create array and grids)

 

2nd step, define basic components with controllable parameters.

3rd step, re-orient components on the grid, and according to the intersection condition to create Tenon-joints on each components.

Different plafonds create by this research result (twisted Tridecagon, Decagon, and Octagon)