This has been a really “under the radar” project that I was involved in for a chunk of my time last year. It was an atypical project for me since it was really more like 6 projects in one. It was also more of an industrial design exercise than your typical architectural project. My role on the project, initially was to be a BIM Manager, then I was filling in for a Project Architect, and as usual I was doing what I do: training, modeling, analysis etc. Like I have mentioned before, this project was unique as the scope was to try and do a very minimal interventions in the existing building’s spaces so it was really an adaptive reuse type of a project. We did most of the custom casework and furniture design while mostly leaving the spaces as they were to keep the budget and schedule in check.
Daylighting Analysis:
I was responsible for making sure that all of the “gallery” spaces in the building were getting enough daylight. For that I have turned to tools such as Grashopper’s Honeybee daylighting analysis tools. We have looked at all sorts of design options that would ensure maximum daylighting with minimum interventions. In the example below we were looking at Charlotte’s skylights, their locations and expected Lux levels.
Industrial Design Components:
This was really the majority of the project. We have engaged in design of custom furniture and casework pieces that would be used throughout all of the flagship stores. Here are just a few examples of some of the pieces. All images and design are credits of Grimshaw’s Industrial Design team.
Computational Design:
While working on this project, I was able to develop and use quite a few Computational Workflows. Since this was a series of small projects but they all had to literally look the same, my biggest challenge was to keep everyone on the same page in terms of settings, styles, families etc. I have developed a series of small Dynamo utilities to keep all projects updated and using the same settings. Also, part of the deliverable was a detailed Room Data Sheet, that I was able to develop using Dynamo.
