Helio-Responsive Surface Manipulation

Through the scripting and parametric processes of the Grasshopper plug-in for Rhino, the final project proposed the transformation of any surface into a responsive set of solar shades. The Grasshopper file uses any surface as its input and then derives a series of louvers and vertical supports. The direction plane of the louver is then aimed to points in a 3d sun path diagram. Numerical sliders within Grasshopper allow the user to change the month and time of day, which in turn causes the blinds to rotate and skew.
Another script then evaluates the angle for each of the blinds in the system, and correspondingly displays the relative amount of sunlight to the shading device. Once a designed day and time have been input into the system, the blinds are copied away from the surface and flattened into planar elements. This allows each of the pieces to be exported into a drafting program for any fabrication methods, from laser-cut cardboard to plasma-cut sheet metal.The overall goal was to establish a system that allowed any surface to be evolved into a responsive solar shading device, then instantly export the information for fabrication processing.





Grasshopper Definitions and Rhino Surfaces are available at the following site:
http://sites.google.com/site/johnlura/