Improvements to Project 1
To begin, improvements were made to the panels and mass model from Project 1. These improvements include:

Making the mullions on the sub-panel family larger (from 0.5" to 3" in radius) to make them easier to see on the full model.
Adding instance parameters to the mullion and glass materials on the sub-panel

Updated sub-panel with larger mullions

Increased visibility of mullions at project level

Making the diagrid structure larger on the inception panel and adding instance parameters to the diagrid size and material

Updated inception panel with larger diagrid

Larger diagrid system visible at mass level from interior

Adding type parameters to the mullion material, glass material, diagrid material, diagrid size, and the sizes of the reference circles so that all these parameters could be manipulated from the project level.

Type parameters visible at project level

New exterior rendering

New exterior rendering with glass color change done from project level

A "stripe color" parameter was also applied to two stripes of panels on the building in order to create a more accurate rendering of the actual building. This was something that was not accomplished in the first project, but after a little more research and experimenting was applied.

Exterior rendering with stripes

Implementation of API Programming

From here, API programming was used to change some of the material parameters of the project mass from the project level using the Add-In Manager that was downloaded and installed into Revit Architecture. Initially, the goal of using the API programming was to run a program from the project level and randomize the colors of all the panels. For this part of the project the mass model was simplified by taking out the subpanels. The API program was implemented by selecting all of the panel IDs from the mass level. Then a "for loop" was run that took the "Glass Color" parameter from each panel and assigned a new, random color called "MyMaterial" to each panel.

Project with random colors assigned to panels

The API programming was then taken a step further by selecting only panels that were included in the two stripes of the building. The part of the code that randomized the color for each panel was also taken out of the "for loop". This ensured that each time the program was run in Revit, all of the panels in the two stripes would change to the same, random color.

Project after running API program with random colored stripes

Model Description

My mass model was made in Revit using the “Create Form” function with four reference line circles that defined the diameter of the building at varying heights. To begin, 40 level planes were pulled up from the base plane. The first level was at an elevation of 28’, while the rest of the levels (up to level 39) were spaced at a floor height of 14’. The top level was then put at an elevation of 590’. Table 1 below summarizes the sizes and levels of each reference circle.

Table 1: Reference Circle Summary

Level	Reference Circle Diameter
1	75’
17	94’
39	36’
40	10’

Dimension parameters were then assigned to the reference circles on level 1, 17, and 39. These will be some of the parameters available to be changed on the mass model. Figure 1 below provides a screen shot of the reference circles on the appropriate level with parameters applied.

Figure 1: Reference Circles with Parameters Applied

Next, the parametric building envelope was created by altering the “Rhomboid Surface” curtain panel family. To start, a rhombus shape was swept along the edge of the rhomboid surface at the top edge of the rhombus shape. Dimension parameters were also applied to the rhombus shape (defined as “Diagrid Size”). Void forms were then made to trim the excess material at the corners of the rhombus sweep. This was done to resolves some appearance problems that came up when the curtain panel was applied to the mass model. Figure 2 below illustrates this process.

Figure 2: Edited Rhomboid Surface

Next, in order to model the sub-panels within each of the rhomboid surfaces, the “Rectangle Surface” curtain panel was edited by sweeping a circle along the panel edge to represent the mullions on the sub-panels. Figure 3 illustrates what this sub-panel looked like before it was loaded into the rhomboid surface family.

Figure 3: Edited Rectangle Surface Sub-Panel

Next, this sub-panel family was loaded into the rhomboid surface as one can see in Figure 4 below. Parameters were then added to the mullion color, glass color, diagrid material, diagrid size, and U/V grid size for the rectangle sub-panels. The complete list of parameters in the curtain panel can be seen in Figure 5.

Figure 4: Completed Curtain Panel

Figure 5: Parameters Assigned to Curtain Panel

Finally, this curtain panel is loaded into the mass model and applied. Figure 6 below illustrates the full mass model with the curtain panels applied. Parameters were then added to the U/V grid, and a full list of all the parameters available in the mass model can be seen in Figure 7.

Figure 6: Mass Model with Curtain Panels Applied

Figure 7: Parameters Assigned to Mass Model

Finally, a site plan was made in a new Revit project and the mass model was placed in the project in Figure 8. Floor masses were also applied to the building once it was loaded in the project.

Figure 8: Mass Model in Project

A single floor plan was also made to illustrate how the open spaces in the building would be used. The floor plan in Figure 9 has a bank of three elevators at the center, a large office space in the middle with a conference room surrounded by curtain walls, and the remaining space filled with miscellaneous furniture and office space.

Figure 9: Example Floor Plan

Comments, Problems, Critique, etc.

I ran into several issues while creating this project. First, when I applied the curtain panel to the mass model, there were some clashing/termination issues at the top of the building where all of the upper curtain panels began to come together. I was never able to resolve this issue, but it was only a small appearance issue. This issue might be attributed to the fact that I modeled the top of the building as a flat circular surface instead of the dome shape that the actual building has. Figure 10 below provides an illustration of this issue at the top of the building.

Figure 10: Problem with Curtain Panels at Top of Building

I also had trouble changing the color of individual curtain panels in the project. As a result, I was unable to model the spiral that appears on the exterior of the building in Figure 11. The hope is that this will be an issue that can be resolved once we move into the coding part of the class.

Figure 11: 30 St. Mary Axe

I also ran into problems getting the color I assigned to the curtain panels to appear in the project renderings that were created. I tried multiple techniques to resolve this issue, but was unable to fix it before the submission deadline of this project.