UNSW - Parametric Design and Digital Fabrication

BENV1012 Assessment 01 2026 - Luminocity 2026 Exhibition Model

Brief

BENV1012 Design Computing, UNSW Sydney. The task was to redesign one of two light rail stops at UNSW, Anzac Parade or High Street, using parametric design and digital fabrication. The structure needed to accommodate up to 30 occupants, provide a new roof structure, shelter from weather, and include seating.

The design was developed as an adaptable digital 3D model in Rhino and Grasshopper, with iterative geometric variations generated in response to the brief. The Grasshopper script required full organisation and annotation, with blocks of code grouped, labelled, and commented to explain what each section does, why that approach was chosen, and how the parameters influence the geometry. All sliders controlling the model's parameters were to be named and located at the beginning of the script. Annotation was a graded component, expected to demonstrate understanding of parametric logic rather than simply describe what is visible on screen.

Deliverables included a poster showing the project name, a written project description covering design intention and process, six digital model variations generated from the same script by adjusting slider values with parameters shown for each, and three images of the final design. A physical prototype was also required, produced using laser cutting techniques, no larger than 200x200x200mm.

Resonace Exchange

The design intent is rooted in sympathetic resonance, the idea that the light rail's arrival generates energy that the structure receives and expresses through the visual twist.

The Grasshopper script starts by generating a curve from a series of points fed through a graph mapper, which controls the overall bezier curvature of the canopy arms. A surface width is then applied to that curve to create the canopy geometry. One arm was scripted then mirrored three times to produce all four legs. The living hinge pattern is applied to each surface and was modified from the class script to allow the material to twist as well as bend, which is what gives the arms their directional movement. The central roof also known as the bridge element, is joined to the four legs as one unified component. Thickness is then applied across the whole model to make it fabrication ready.

The columns are constructed separately using a waffle joint system scripted in Grasshopper and duplicated for both column positions. The wavy bench was created with a bezier curve on a graph mapper as well but along the xy plane, and then the curve was brought to the middle of the design. Separated into two end curves and a middle walkway that was subtracted. It was then offset and generated to a set width and extruded upward to a height.

Four living hinge variations were tested before locking in the script parameters. Variations 3 and 4 snapped on twisting, while Variations 1 and 2 held form after boiling. Variation 1 was selected, using 50 slits, 0.40 rectangle size, 0.42 inner width and 0.08 outer width.

Applications Used:

• Grasshopper (Script)

• Rhino (3D Modelling)

• D5 Render (Visualisation)

• Adobe Illustrator

• Laser Cutter

• Canva