What’s the point ?
I often use brick in my architectural projects, but the possibilities for customizing brick walls are relatively limited in architectural software such as Archicad. This meant that every time I wanted to use a brick moucharabieh in a project I had to draw it and create it brick by brick. Thanks to this script, this is no longer necessary, as it makes it easier to create moucharabieh with undulating bricks. This allows you to create a greater variety of patterns in a brick wall but also, by adjusting the angle, to create a brick wall that lets light through while retaining visual privacy.
Inspiration and example
The Revolving Bricks Serai Building in Arak, in Iran
Step 1 : Creating the wall surface
- 1. In Grasshopper, use the Rectangular tool to create an XZ plan divided by rectangles
- 2. Define parameters for the number and the size of those rectangles
- 3. Use the Offset Curve tool to play with the distance between each rectangle
Step 2 : Creating the 3D bricks
- 1. Use the Box Rectangle tool and Shift Paths tool to create the bricks out of the rectangles
- 2. Define parameters for the depth of the bricks
Step 3 : Separating the bricks in even and odd row
- 1. Use the Split Tree tool to separate the wall into two parts, it will divide the bricks into one column in two
- 2. To play with bricks rows and not columns, add the Flip Matrix tool before the Split Tree tool
Step 4 : Shifting the odd rows
- 1. Shift the odd row of bricks using the Moving tool
- 2. Define parameters of the movement thanks to the Unit X tool and Division tool
- 3. Active both settings for the odd and even rows by using the Merge tool
Step 5 : Creating an attractor
- 1. Create a first basic 90° rotation of the bricks by using the Area tool and the Rotate tool
- 2. Find the middle of the wall by using several tools : Region Union, Simplify Curve, Explode, List Item, and finally Curve Middle
- 3. Use the Polyline tool to create a line in the middle of the wall to use as the attractor
Option 1 : Customizing the rotation with the attractor line
- 1. Link the new Polyline created to the Area tool thanks to the Pull Point tool
- 2. Put as an output of the Pull Point tool a Sort List and a List Item, this is to determine the number of columns that will be affected by the rotation
- 3. Create a new domain by using the Construct Domain tool, this domain will be responsible for the angle of rotation of the bricks, thanks to the Pi tool and Negative tool
- 4. Create a new numeric domain that is suitable to these new steps that we have done, thanks to the Bounds tool and Remap Numbers tool
- 5. To have a better visualization of the wall use the Custom Preview Materials tool, thanks to it you can change the appearance of the bricks : the color, the transparency, the material…
Option 2 : Customizing the rotation with an inclined attractor line
- 1. Same steps as the first option
- 2. Replace the Curve Middle tool with the Point on Curve tool. With this, the attractor line will be able to also rotate itself, to become a diagonal for example.
Option 3 : Customizing the rotation with an attractor point
- 1. Same steps as the first option
- 2. Create a new list of preset values to choose from, thanks to the Value List tool
- 3. Enter two values : Line and point. The Line value will obtain the same results as the first option. The Point value will use a point located on the Polyline as the attractor, and not anymore the whole line as the attractor
- 4. Link the Value List to the Polyline and to the Pull Point by using the Stream Filter tool
- 5. Use the Evaluate Curve tool to define the Z coordinates of the point
