DIAGRID COLUMN AND CURTAIN WALL

[Anonymous]

hi all, as a relatively new user of archicad, i'd like some input and info about how to model the kind of building like 30 st Mary axe by Foster+Partners , or any other building that is using a diagrid structural system and having a spherical shape, using archicad. I've done it with rhino and grasshopper with little to no problems (but again, another software another use)


so i'm curious about some points:

1.what's the most effective and efficient way to model the STRUCTURAL part of such building in archicad?
2.the building that i mentioned above, the 30 St Mary axe, also use a diagrid pattern for it's building enclosure, is it possible to use CURTAIN WALL to recreate that kind of system?
3.finally, do i have to work one floor at a time, and then copy the finished portion (either structural / curtain wall) to the above floor, rotate it accordingly, and so on?

i've tried using the curtain wall tool for the external glass enclosure, i've set the secondary gridline rotation to 45', but it didnt come up right, because i cant rotate the main grid line (the curtain wall scheme rotation setting is disabled for cylindrical form)
i learned this workflow from a site (see lower left part of the attached image) it worked great on plain surface, but not with an arched, spherical, or sylindrical form

for the structural part, i can't think of any other way than creating a pair of slanted column that cross each other, forming and X-shape, rotate it along the building outer perimeter,and so on and so on




any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks in advance
-John

[Anonymous]

In 2010 I modelled this Cooling Tower story by story:

[Anonymous]

Wow , that's an awesome work you've done there, finally im getting some ideas about my questions.

Seeing from the image, were you using special objects applied in the model as slanted column and beam floor by floor, or did you apply the .gsm object as a custom curtain wall component(i.e. frame, mullion) and multiply the curtain wall floor by floor?

[Anonymous]

John wrote:
Wow ...were you using special objects applied in the model as slanted column and beam floor by floor?

Yes. Plus a vertical section profile on which I adjust the slant angle of that columns.

[Anonymous]

i see,, over the past night i've tried some other way around, but by far, the cleanest and simplest workflow was achieved with your method, maybe i'll try to work it out again some other time, thanks for your responses