Framework for automatic generation of facades on free-form surfaces

Abstract

New design tools have created a growing interest for presenting complex geometries and patterns. The need to form curved geometries of facades, without incurring high construction costs and time increases, presents one of the most complex design challenges for any project. In this paper, we present and demonstrate a new computational framework for the creation of patterns on top of facades, via cladding of panels and honeycomb structures. The tool describes a given region on a base model; dealing particularly with location, size and orientation of general geometric features on the surface of such model. The user inputs curves that manifest the desired user׳s intention for the panels and a set of seed features that correspond to the initial boundary conditions of a Riemannian metric tensor field. The system interpolates the tensors defined by input features and input curves by solving a Laplace-Beltrami partial differential equation over the entire domain. We show a fast clustering and search operations for correct panel utilization based on size quantization as design variable and implemented via Voronoi segmentation. We present honeycomb structures that can be retrieved from the fundamental mesh producing another option for facade creation and ideation. The system connects to a geometric modeling kernel of a commercial CAD package; the system places features on top of the base model facade using boolean operations from the core geometric engine via its programming interface calls. With this computational tool, thousands of clad panels can be visualized and developed within minutes.