Project 1, Church of Seed - Extra Renderings

In addition to the renderings done in 3dsMax, I placed the building into Lumion, added materials and did a few extra renderings of both the interior and exterior.

Project 1, Church of Seed - Final Renderings

External view showing the site context. The church was built atop Laofu Mountain in China. Note the window and door details.

External view showing the entrance pathway to the church. A small road was constructed which winds through the trees and hills, leading to the church. Note the clerestory window details.

A bird's eye view showing the church as well as its surroundings. The site contours were traced from the site plan provided by the architect. A few trees were added to add character to the picture.

Bird's eye view showing the church from behind, providing a clearer view of the road leading to the entrance of the church. Door and clerestory details can be seen in this picture.

Exterior view showing once again the back of the church.

Project 1, Church of Seed - Adding Site Context

Added site context to the building. Using the site plan provided by the architects as reference, I first traced the contour lines using both Crv and Offset functions directly in Rhino. After that, I moved each closed curve vertically to the correct height to produce the contours. Using PlanarSrf, each curve was then made into a surface. With that done, the Drape command was used to produce the smooth landscape shown. 

To produce the walkway leading to the church, I first traced the walkway from the site plan. Then, using Project, the lines were then projected directly unto the Draped surface. From there, it was a simple issue of extruding and capping the closed curve to form the walkway and platform of the church.

Trees were downloaded off from an online model repository and added to get character.

The entire process and be viewed here:

Step by step:

Using the PictureFrame command, the site plan was brought into Rhino, and then Scaled to the correct size. Using the CommandPointCrv command, the site contours were traced. To expedite the process, Offset was used for repetitive contours.

With the contours complete, contour lines on the same level were then Grouped to ensure ease change.

The contours were then move vertically and stacked atop one another. Once done, PlanarSrf commands were used to create these planes.

Using the Drape command, a beautiful and smooth site contour is produced.

ControlPoints were enabled to allow fine tuning of the terrain to ensure it does not clip with the building itself.

With that done, the pathway to the building was then traced using the Polyline command and then Projected unto the draped surface.

Like a cookie cutter, the projected curved was extruded into the draped surface. BooleanSplit was then used.

The cut area was then raised up using ExtrudeSrf to form the concrete plinth.

Some foliage were downloaded from a model repository website, and then placed around the site and decorated.

Project 1, Church of Seed - Modelling The Building

The Church of Seed was designed by O Architects, a Chinese firm and was built in the Loufu Mountain District, atop a hill overlooking the surrounding landscape. The church is notable for its unique construction employing bamboo formworks. This caused the concrete, cast in-situ, to exhibit bamboo textures. In addition, the sweeping organic form of the building is inspired from the form of a seed, an important Christian metaphor for the Word of God.

This 3D model was done using Rhinoceros 5, and employed many functions including but not limited to: Polyline, ExtrudeCrv, Offset, ProjectToCPlane, Project, BooleanDifference, BooleanSplit, ExtrudeSrf, MakeHole, Scale1D and Rotate3D,. The model took around 3 hours to build, and used drawings given by the architect as a reference. While building, the programme Bandicam was turned on and recorded the entirety of the building process. This was turned into a timelapse, which can be seen then be seen here:

As the drawings given by the architect were extremely limited, some assumptions had to be made. Thus, many references to photographs of the actual constructed church were made to ensure accuracy. 

Step by step:

Although not mentioned, situational commands such as Project to C Plane and others were used.

I started by importing the plans into Rhino using the PictureFrame command, and then placing it in a layer and locking it. This allows me to trace the curves using ControlPointCurves.

After tracing, the closed curves were then extruded using the ExtrudeCrv command. The heights of the extrusions are deliberately too high; they'll be cut later.

Using the Polyline command I drew a line at the angle of which the extrusions were to be cut. Then I used the ExtrudeCrv command to create a plane. This plane intersected the extrusions. With the BooleanSplit command the extrusions were split and then trimmed to obtain the angles required.

Using Offset, I obtained a smaller closed curve. I Joined the curves together, and then using the MakeHole command made a depression for the roofs.

With the extrusions done, I moved onto the floor. Here I traced the steps unto a plane. As this is a chapel, only one room, the main sanctuary, was modeled. Other subsidiary rooms like the storeroom and toilets were not modeled.

MakeHole was used to create depressions on the ground plane repeatedly to obtain steps.

With the steps done, I used ChamferEdge to smoothen out the steps.

Moving unto the unique roof, I first traced the profile from the section and then used ExtrudeCrv. The extrusions were then Copied to the necessary places. These extrusions bisected the wall extrusions from earlier, and thus BooleanDifference was used to delete the excess pieces.

This unique balcony was first Extruded and then trimmed into the correct form using BooleanSplit.

Adding staircases was a simple affair. Boxes were made to the correct length and height, and then Copied and placed atop each other. 

After placing it at the starting location, the excess was trimmed off using the BoolenDifference command.

Here I've started making the windows. Using a combination of Rectangle and Offset, the outlines of the windows were easily made. These closed curves were then extruded using ExtrudeCrv.

Each window element was then Grouped to form individual chunks to be manipulated later. The same process was used for doors.

Using the Rotate command, the doors and window panes were opened to create a small sense of dynamism to the model.

The clerestory windows were done in the same way. Scale1D was used to repair any holes that may have surfaced by extending window panes. This allowed me to quickly model repetitive elements.

Finishing touches. Half of the Cross was drawn and then Mirrored to ensure it is entirely symmetrical. It was then Rotated. MakeHole was then used to create the opening in the wall.

With the model finished, multiple Layers were then created, and Materials were assigned. All the building elements were then organized into such.

Here is the building model, finished and layered by materials.

Ditto.

Finally, details such as light fixtures and door hinges were modeled.