Grasshopper is a software tool that utilizes Rhino 3-D as a modeling platform to develop parametrically controlled models with real time geometric manipulation. While the use of Rhino and Grasshopper is not atypical in the architectural community, particularly in academia and with regard to complex form generation, we have been investigating its viability for comparative analysis in sustainable and structural design.

As a parametric tool, grasshopper is numerically or formula driven. As a result, you are not only able to generate form with numbers, but you can distill out numerical data from the form you have created. Fascinated with this ability to quantify various aspects of our design, I have started to develop a basic Grasshopper toolbox for the firm. In addition to this “accounting” of the design, Rhino’s excellent file type compatibility allows easy export of the generated geometry to a wide range of other software platforms for further evaluation. Based on these two attributes of the Grasshopper/Rhino platform – numerical analysis and wide compatibility — we are succeeding in a more informed design process with regard to building performance and developing a few really exciting tools.

The idea is data-in = data-out. With a parametric design you know, in detail, the parameters through which your model was created and can selectively track the values of these parameters. At Miller Hull, this notion of selective tracking has been used to generate tools related to Photovoltaic analysis, iterative structural design and efficiency studies, and modular facade layouts accounting for system architecture and percent openness. As a first test case for Grasshopper’s usefulness in our design process, we built a tool to evaluate photovoltaic arrays. This tool was not designed as a replacement process for a detailed energy model or a process that will provide an exact PV output value for a given building, it does however, provide rough orders of magnitude for energy production and an excellent comparative analysis for design decisions relative to solar energy production. It’s dynamic nature allows us to modify the design to account for any building design at any orientation and at any latitude. This tool was first implemented on the design of the Bullitt Center, in Seattle, Washington.

The Bullitt Center is a project on a very challenging site with regard to solar exposure, and the goal is to achieve net-zero energy use. This goal required solar orientation and solar access to be at the forefront of the design from the beginning. Achieving net-zero energy starts with conservation, so our challenge was not to simply build the biggest solar array possible, but to capitalize only on the excess solar energy hitting our building. It was just as important to know what daylight was getting through as it was to know what was being captured for energy generation.

In this project, Grasshopper enabled us to be relentless in our testing and tracking of solar energy throughout the design. We designed a solar canopy and could manipulate it on the fly while maintaining a relative and quantitative understanding of any changes. Simultaneously, a schematic design for the building massing and fenestration was in progress within Sketch-up, and through a quick import process we could overlay the Grasshopper generated solar array onto the evolving building design, allowing the two to evolve together. We were also importing the combined geometry (building and solar array) into Ecotect to manage and assess the day lighting. With this triad of tools — Sketch-up as a base model, iterative solar arrays in Grasshopper/Rhino-3D and Ecotect day lighting analysis — we had a quantitative feedback loop that would update close enough to real time that we knew almost immediately, on a very nuanced level, how design changes were impacting energy goals on the building.

Once the tool was built, evaluation was simple and we quickly pulled together a matrix of options for each facade of the building. Through simple numerical data manipulation each array was adjustable and able to mathematically account for panel manufacturer or efficiency, panel and array tilt, panel quantity and array configuration. All this analysis was possible while maintaining a direct relationship to the evolving building design.

To examine the idea of “service” it might be interesting to think about what types of interactions library users are encountering elsewhere in their communities: 

• Museums now have exhibit guides available on cell phones—requiring fewer paid docents, but provide immediate and unlimited tours. 
• Online banking allows customers to pay bills, transfer funds, and keep records without requiring trips to the post office, bank or office.
• Large bar code signage allows people to pull up dynamic location-based information on the internet to create a direct link between visitor and place—on demand.
• GPS systems direct people to destinations without requiring use of printed media.
• Using digital devices, people can connect with family, collaborate with colleagues, or shop at stores 24/7.
• Partnerships create cross-pollinated experiences like toys at McDonalds, coffee at the local Umpqua Bank, or music sold at Starbucks.

These trends appear to indicate an increase of “information on demand” for the general public.  Rather than having to search for information, wait in line for help, or rely on static external sources, people are able to obtain seamless service delivered directly to them. The desire for “one stop shopping” has now evolved to include the user as “the one stop.” Recently, the California State Library expressed the same concerns in their 2010 strategic plan:  

“Key external forces affecting the CSL are the state’s budget crisis, the rapidly changing nature of information, a perceived disconnect of decision-makers from the library community, and a growing reluctance to fund public institutions without confidence in the value of these entities. A number of challenges currently face the California State Library: Expectations of library patrons and clients for easy, instant, 24×7 access to the full array of library services using state-of-the-art technologies;  expectation by the California library community for CSL to lead and act strategically;  the need to communicate the value and relevance of libraries in a changing world;  the need for CSL to review and establish resource priorities; and the need to expand the skills, knowledge and abilities of library professionals to anticipate, understand, and meet the changing needs of the people we serve.”

So, what can libraries take from this context—and what does it mean for library design?  For instance, how is the surrounding culture of immediacy reflected in library service…does it become an “app?”  Or how is the library’s service experience conveyed to online users of a “digital branch library?”

For libraries to remain current, they’ll need to continue to evolve in parallel with all other societal influences.  The question for us as architects is how can the design of libraries help to affect –and support—that change?