COMPUTER AIDED ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN
ARCH 2710: September 4, 2025

Exercise 2: A 2D exercise in geometrical diagramming and symmetry analysis
Due: September 19, 2025 (due at midnight at the end of day of Sept.19) 

PREVIEW DRAFT 8.13.25      

This assignment will asks you to diagram geometry within a computer aided design system. You will learn how to create objects built up from graphic primitives, associate these objects within groupings and use them in a manner that describes a schematic geometrical organization. Please compete this exercise in schematic form and using 2D drawing techniques only.

This exercise is to be based on the case study you've identified for execise 1, a. work of architecture, landscape architecture or other designed or three-dimensional form, includng one found in nature, that you may wish to continue to model for the semester. You should choose a work that is of some importance to a field of study, and is well documented to the extent that you can reproduce or have access to existing plan, section and elevation drawings. Per the instructions provided for assignment 1, Non-design students may wish to consult with the course instructor and/or TA about an alternative option if not a architecture project case study. This assignment is in two parts.

Part 1 Preliminary Analysis

Once you select your the case study subject, analyze both its plan and one primary elevation. Once again, the current exercise is 2D. You do not need to submit any work for Part 1. It may be easier to do this with a few pencil and paper sketches, rather than in Rhino. Later on we wil be using the similar techniques in 3D.

See if you can reduce its apparent complexity to a few simple geometrical ordering principles [see references below to Clark & Pause, 2012; Thompson, 1917; Rowe, 1976]. When analyzing a case study for geometry, look for symmetry-related transformations that shape its organization and visual coherence, including:

Examples of symmetry transformations include:

translational symmetry  (move and copy tools)


Windels_ Class Project

bilateral symmetry (mirror tools)


Schmidt_Class Project_1st Place in International Student Competition

rotational symmetry (rotate tools)


Stasny_Class Project

Once you've uncovered some of the geometrical ordering principles (e.g, axis, symmetry, hierarchy, repetitive patterns) of your project, you are ready to begin Part 2.  The methods introduced in Precedents in Architecture by Clark and Pause published by Wiley, 2012, may be helpful regarding relevant diagramming techniques. See the online text of the Clark and Pause publication on UVA's Virgo System.* For non-architecture studies of forms found in nature that would be relevant to all disciplines the widely regarded On Growth and Form by D'Arcy Thompson published by Cambridge University Press in 1917 is also available online through the Biodiversity Heritage Library.* Thompson’s book establishes a process based description of geometry that is admired in many fields, including design as well as plant and animal morphology. In addition, a much quoted essay about absract geometry in architecture is in the first chapter of Colin Rowe's The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays (there are several hard capies in the IVY Stacks apart from the one availble in the UVA Library), Published by MIT Press in 1976.

* The online reader is available to individuals with a UVA login account from on grounds or through VPN access.

Part 2 Abstract Geometrical analysi  in Plan and Elevation

Part 2a: In this part of the exercise, you will explore Rhino according to your analysis from Part 1. With the aid of Rhino's transformation operations, you are to assemble figures from primitive graphical elements (e.g. lines, circles, arcs, etc.). Use transformation tools (e.g., copy, rotate, scale, mirror commands) that are appropriate to your geometrical anaylsys. That is, construct your drawing taking into account the systematic application of these transformation tools to construct a plan of your subject and optionally an elevation. Use color and layers to help organize your drawing according to geometrical thematic elements.

The table of Basic Rhino Commands contains a list of primitive drawing tools and view control functions with which you should become generally familiar upon completion of this assignment.

Part 2b: For extra credit, use Grasshopper to diagram one part of your study using a few basic point components, line and or curve components, also in 2D.

What you need hand in:

Submit a Rhino drawing file (i.e., a .3dm file) showing plan and optionally an elevation. Place your finished drawing in your submit directory on the school's computer system. You will be advised as to how to create a submit directory in the workshop. To submit your homework assignments, simply copy the CAD file into your submit directory.

  1. These instructions are applicable from a computer on grounds or connected to UVA using the VPN system from off grounds..
  2. Open the CLASSES file server folder for ARCH 2710.  Inside this folder, open the submit sub-folder, then your section time's sub-folder, and then your personal submit directory. (See NOTE below on how to access the CLASSES server.)
  3. Copy the homework file to your personal submit directory.
  4. IMPORTANT - Send email to Earl Mark (ejmark@virginia.edu) and your SIA. Include within your email a message that describes the work you have done on this exercise, the location and name of your Rhino file.
  5. Write a paragraph about yourself, your background in computers (if any) and expectations for the semester.

NOTE: The CLASSES server is accessible from anywhere on grounds. Or you can also access it from off grounds through installing UVA's VPN (virtual private network) service on your personal computer. It is widely used within the School of Architecture for storing work in progress on both the Mac and Windows operating sytstems:

Win - \\Classes.arch.virginia.edu\SARC-CLASSES (use Windows OS “Start  Run” command)

Mac - smb://Classes.arch.virginia.edu/SARC-CLASSES (use Mac  OS “Go/Connect to Server” utility)

When logging into the CLASSES server by means of the Windows OS “Start Run” option, type eservices\ followed by your UVa computing ID (e.g., eservices\ejm9k) similar to instructions for accessing the university’s computer network via UVA’s VPN system. The eservices\ prefix is not needed when using the Mac OS method.

For more details see:
https://arch-web.arch.virginia.edu/computing/docs/setup/

REFERENCES

Clark, R. H., & Pause, M. (2012). Precedents in Architecture (4th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. UVA Virgo System link
Thompson, D’Arcy W. (1917). On Growth and Form. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Biodiversity Heritage Library link
Rowe, C. (1976). The Mathematics of the Ideal Villa and Other Essays. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. UVA Virgo System link