Final Video by Andres Espinosa

Andres Espinosa The Gherkin Building Project UH Animation 2009 from andres espinosa on Vimeo.

The Gherkin Building Andres Espinosa

I then added a taper modifier to achieve the iconic shape of the Gherkin, It has been very difficult to achieve the shape of the building as it is a very unusual shape.


















Once this shape was achieved i could go back to the diamonds set out and adjust the textures. The colour of the windows is very important as it creates the flowing lines that the building has.














To achieve the individual sections of the windows i extruded the lines in the polygon plane to a certain amount so that the stand out the way it is achieved in the actual building itself.










Once this was achieved i could then add the black ground stumps to the building where it is held in place.

This was then added to the rest of the peaks of the building at the bottom.

A railing was then placed around each stump.














I then performed lighting tests in the scene to determine what would be the best lighting to light the building.

















Surrounding buildings were then added to scene to give the work more interest and depth, this can also inform on how tall the building is in comparison to others.










Final Render of my project with lighting and surrounding buildings.































Final presentation

The Gherkin Building

Firstly i have created the diamond shapes of the building that hold the building in place and give it its unusual shape.

With the research made about the height of the building and by looking at aerial pictures I can easily count how many diamonds up the side of the building there are.





















This is the office window texture that I have used to give detail to the windows on the building to represent the actual offices within the existing building. This can then be repeated and placed on planes behind the diamond structures.














Here you can see how I placed this office window texture behind the diamond structures. This can give the representation of there being offices within model building.



















After making a row of diamond shaped structures i then multiplied them up the building. I then applied a bend modifier to the building to create the hollow straight shell of the building.

30 St Mary Axe 'The Gherkin' Research

In this project I have decided to create the 30 St Mary Axe also known as the Gherkin in London using 3DS Max making it as accurate as possible. In this section i will show my research process in making the building itself.































This is an architectural plan of the Gherkin building by Foster & Partners

• Each floor rotates 5 degrees from the last but the spiralling atriums were not fully realised. They stop every six floors for fire safety reasons.
• The only curved piece of glass on the entire building is the very top piece that crowns it.
• The advantages of the shape are numerous - at the bottom it tapers in creating more ground space and allowing a new public plaza to build whilst circular towers also create less downdrafts. Tapering at the top into the crown reduces wind resistance further.
  
• The lifts can carry a maximum of 378 people at any one time reaching speeds of 6 metres a second.
• The floor to ceiling heights are 2.75 metres, three centimeters more than is needed to have accomodated the worlds tallest man ever. Of course he couldn't have worn heels.
• The building contains the highest dining space in London at 163 metres. The entire top floors are occupied by the company restaurant for Swiss Re.
• The building weighs 70,000 tonnes, contains 333 piles in the foundations, 35 kilometres of structural steel at 11,000 tonnes, and 24,000 square metres of glass cladding.
• Almost all of the plant space is located externally on an adjacent six story structure at 20 Bury Street.

This is a plan for one of the floors within the building.












This is a birds eye view of the surrounding area of the gherkin, this way i can plan out how I will set out the scene in my video and in renders.



















This is a development drawing of the gherkin showing the design of the diamond shapes and how it may look within a London scene.

Roof Height (AOD)

194.90

Roof Height (AGL)

179.80

Top Floor Height (AGL)

163.00

Floor To Ceiling Height

2.75

Total Floors (O.G)

41

Total Floors (U.G)

1

Number of Lifts

17

Welcome to my first blogger site, here I will be presenting my work for my Architectural Visualization project for my 3D Digital Animation course at University of Hertfordshire. stay posted for future uploads.

Part 1. - Design

Produce a research development blog (using https://www.blogger.com) or equivalent. With design drawings, plans, reference photography, colour sketches, notes, measured drawings and schematics plans. Include reflective notes and comments on images gathered or drawings reflecting an analytical approach (annotation). An image without annotation is useless.



The model must be made accurately to real world scales.



Include reflective notes and comments on images gathered or drawings reflecting an analytical approach (annotation). An image without annotation is useless.



Part 2. Architectural Modelling

Working independently, produce a textured 3D model in max/maya which is a faithful representation of your chosen architectural project. Make good use of edge loops in accordance with the principles of modelling for animation. The model should be lit and rendered aesthetically to make the model look as real as possible.



You should produce for the hand in via StudyNet at least:

* One Max/maya file and associated Textures with the completed building
* One Low poly Wireframe render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* One Smoothed Un Textured render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* One High Quality Textured finished render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* One Quicktime presentation movie (H.264 / mpeg4 compressed 1024px x 576px)


(Files should be named with surname comma first name i.e. “rogers,solomon_Building_Wireframe_render.jpg”)



The presentation movie should show exteriors and interiors where appropriate. Consider camera moves, lighting and texturing and animation techniques.



Consider the buildings surroundings, any adjoining buildings and how they connect, how the building is given scale, any furniture within the building, and specific features of the building that need to be given more detail.


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Submission Requirements

You are required to submit the following:

i) Development Blog:
The creation and updating of a blogspot (https://www.blogger.com/) development blog including all sketch work, measured drawings, photographs, reflective thoughts on project, initial wireframes, model development, videos. (copy and paste the url link to your comments section of your studynet submission)

ii) Via Studynet / On-Line submission system at least:

* One Max/maya file and associated Textures with the completed building
* One Low poly Wireframe render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* One Smoothed Un Textured render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* One High Quality Textured finished render in Jpeg format (at least 1920px x 1080px)
* URL Link to Quicktime presentation movie (High Quality: Vimeo / Youtube / Blogspot / direct link)
* URL Link to your development blog (use the comments section to submit this URL link)



iii) 2x A3 Presentation Boards.
Foam board mounted presentation of model development and final outcomes.