Organic Architecture with Grasshopper
Model a radial column-and-canopy grid inspired by organic natural forms, using cosine waves, Graph Mappers, and tangent curves in Grasshopper to produce flowing 3D structural geometry from simple mathematical inputs.
Instructor Lazar Djuric covers an intermediate Grasshopper workflow where a single column cell is constructed mathematically and then arrayed into a full grid. Each column starts as a set of radial lines from a center point, trimmed by a small inner circle to define the column radius, and then turned into polylines that rise to a canopy height.
The course then adds two layers of complexity: a cosine wave is applied across the surface of each stripe to produce an undulating 3D skin, and a Graph Mapper controls the amplitude envelope so the wave grows from flat at the base to its full height at the canopy edge. Opposite stripes receive an inverse cosine pattern so adjacent surfaces alternate in phase.
- How to generate radial division points on a 45-degree rotated circle to align with square grid corners
- How to trim lines with a smaller inner circle using Trim with Region to define column thickness
- How to construct 3-point polylines for the column shaft and replace corners with tangent curves
- How to create staggered surface stripes with Dispatch and Shift List
- How to build a cosine wave from a zero-to-2n-pi domain and evaluate them on a surface
- How to use Graph Mapper (Bezier) to control the amplitude envelope from zero to full height
- How to apply an inverse cosine pattern to alternate stripes for opposing wave phases
- How to weave curve lists, loft them with a closed loft, trim to the base square, and orient onto a full column grid
