How to design a variable geometry sloping facade with a BIM software? Let’s find it out in view of the Marble & Bamboo project

The facade on a residence is like a face on a person. It should convey the meaning of what is behind to the observer. For this reason, the aesthetics of the façade must be very accurate and its planning must represent the concept of the designer.

Today we will see how to plan a sloping facade with variable geometry.

Marble&Bamboo: the facade project

Marble&Bamboo is an original and beautiful contemporary residence located in a residential area north of Madrid. It has been designed and built by A-cero, a multidisciplinary study of architecture, engineering and interior design.

The construction is built on 3 levels: ground floor, first floor and basement.

The curves and shapes of the building have been designed to adapt to the surrounding environment with the purpose of preserving the external spaces and vegetation.

Marble&Bamboo facade detail

The facades of the building differ in shape and design.

The main facade is covered with cream-colored travertine marble tiles. Along the wall there are bottom-level bamboo elements creating a volume effect and a harmony of colours.

Back side

On the back side, a horizontal window runs along the entire façade of the building connecting the rooms to the outside area and to the swimming pool.

Also on the first floor large windows are present along the façade to facilitate the entrance of natural light inside the rooms.

The top floor has a rectangular shape with variable geometry and is protruding over the entire structure.

Facade

Modelling a variable geometry sloping facade with Edificius

In order to model a façade with irregular geometry, in first place, we use the (solid) Extrusion object.

Extrusion object- -MarbleBamboo-Edificius-BIM software

Edificius Extrusion object

Let’s proceed building the 3D magnetic grids to get the snaps of the extrusions that we are going to create.

MagneticGrid

Let’s insert more magnetic grids; one for each particular shape of the facade.

Let’s enter the BIM Object Library > Profiles and Shapes > Profiles and Shapes for solid extrusion objects and create a new folder where to insert the facade profiles.

We choose the Customized option that allows you to create shapes with the geometries you want.

By clicking on the Edit button we enter the profile editor.

We use the Graphics2D (Parallel Guideline) tools as support for building the shape you want to get.

Let’s complete modelling all the facade profiles.

Subsequently we proceed inserting the profiles created in the 3D view with the previously positioned magnetic grids.

To cut the profile according to a section plan, we integrate the use of SketchUp software.

Modellazione-oggetto-SketchUp-MarbleBamboo-Edificius

Sketchup object modelling

Modellazione-oggetto-integrata-MarbleBamboo-Edificius

Integrated object modelling

Once modelled the facade, we proceed building a drawing model with prospects, rendering and axonometric cross section. We then insert the prospects using the Prospect object so to get the relative drawing models.

Prospect generation

Let’s custom the style of the drawing models created by modifying the type of vegetation visualization, the heading of the model and its position.

Next, we create a Working drawing where to insert the prospects of the four facades and the relative renders dragging them from the project navigator to the model.

In the end, we complete the model with the axonometric cross sections.