CORE

Fall 2013 | Design 5 | Professor Clay Shortall

CORE explores the potential for parametric systems to generate solutions to practical problems in architecture, specifically the relationship of a highrise’s footprint to its fire core. Our studio project was the design a highrise on a site that is heavily restricted by Austin’s Capital View Corridor (CVC). The CVC cut our site into 4 pieces, only one of which was unrestricted vertically.

I produced a Grasshopper definition that analyzes a proposed building’s height, floor to floor, total square-footage, fire stair requirements, elevator requirements, and IBC restrictions to determine the most efficient floor plan and fire core for a triangular site.
This process reduces the size of the buildings circulation space to 20% of total floor area, rather than the original 33% it would have to take up with a triangular floor plate.

The data generated from this analysis was then used by the majority of the class in their design, as it allowed the practical concerns of the buildings core to adapt to any proposed massing or floor plate.