Shanghai Tower_DylanDavis

Shanghai Tower is a parametric skyscraper that stretches 600 meters in a stacking fashion.  The twisted glass curtain wall is free from the limitations of structure due to its central core acting as the building’s support.  To create this form, the variables of the script in grasshopper were the cylindrical diameter (h1), scale difference (d1), and rotation (a1).  These variables were adjusted to create a building that better symbolizes the freedom given to the exterior by changing the building’s degree of rotation as it stretches upward.

The cylindrical diameter (h1) was kept at 30 meters to allow for the building to be stretched and scaled to its great height.  Values 20 and 40 were both tested and proven to not create the gradual decrease in size as the building increases floors.

The scale difference (d1) was changed to a 35% decrease in size as the floors in the core progressed upward.  This number was an appropriate balance to an 8-floor building and also wouldn’t compromise with the heavy loads of being such a tall skyscraper.

The rotation (a1) of the building is the amount or twisting of the building’s glass curtain wall around its core.  To better portray the buildings structural freedom, the rotation takes a stop mid-through and spirals in the opposite direction.  Taking the overall height and dividing it by two, then using that new number to move the curve twice in the z-axis direction.  This allowed for an addition curve in the building that could be re-scaled and re-rotated.  In this design the rotation was altered from 450 degrees to 625 and the scale was kept the same as the lower half to prevent the twisting to cut into the core.  This changed the buildings counter-clockwise rotation to clock-wise and visually is more interesting.

-Dylan Davis