Inspired by the Milwaukee Art Museum Grasshopper reconstruction

The Quadracci Pavilion is the iconic sculptural addition to the Milwaukee Art Museum designed by the Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. Highlights of the building, completed in 2001, are the magnificent cathedral-like space of Windhover Hall, with a vaulted a 90-foot-high glass ceiling; the Burke Brise Soleil, a moveable sunscreen with a 217-foot wingspan that unfolds and folds twice daily; and the Reiman Bridge, a pedestrian suspension bridge that connects the Museum to the city. (source : https://mam.org/info/architecture.php)

Part 1 – The building

The Grasshopper definition

Let’s start with the Spine

Divide the spine with Divide Curve

Draw the Ellipse that define the shape on ground

The Ellipse has to be moved at the start of the Spine

The easiest way is to draw a bounding box.

Now we’ve got the coordinate of the point guiding the displacement.

The Ellipse is then split into 2 subcurves

But the 2 half curves shall have the same orientation. One must be flipped.

Now, the 2 curves are divided with the same Count used with the spine.

The Count is a Relay that connect to the original Slider used to the Spine

Now we’ve got to connect the Points on the Spine to those on the Ellipse’s halfs

Now let’s give some materiality to our lines

We will take them 2 by 2 to make a loft

We do the same for the other side

We extrude

To rotate the Wings, we must define the rotating plane. It comes from the Spine

Rotate with Angle set in Degree

The magic with this building is the have curves from straight lines.

End of part one

Follow part 2 here….