Computational Design — 2025

Int/Cont - Vera Molnár Recreation

Project Overview

Client: UC Berkeley - Arch 249, Computational Design
Role: Computational Designer
Year: 2025
Timeline: 1 Week
Type: Computational Art Recreation
Tools: Rhino + Grasshopper + Python

An algorithmic recreation of Vera Molnár's Int/Cont (1996) - rebuilt from pseudocode in Grasshopper and Python, then animated as a parametric study of the original five-panel series.

A computational-design exercise rebuilding Vera Molnár's Int/Cont (1996), a series of five acrylic works on paper exploring tensions between shape and void inside a 50 × 50 cm square. The artwork was decomposed into pseudocode, reconstructed parametrically in Grasshopper with a Python component, and then animated to extend Molnár's underlying logic into motion. How do you translate a hand-drawn 1996 acrylic series into a generative system that preserves the artist's logic - the 50 × 50 cm square, the four-quadrant grid, the rhythm of red bars and white voids - while opening it up to parametric variation and motion?

Panels rebuilt: 5
Canvas (per Molnár): 50 cm
Source year: 1996
Pipeline: GH + Py

Phase 01

Pseudocode

Brief

Wrote step-by-step instructions for the artwork - grid construction, bar placement rules, color and proportion - before touching any software.

Reference - Vera Molnár, Int/Cont (1996), five acrylic works on paper

Phase 02

Grasshopper rebuild

Brief

Reconstructed the geometry parametrically in Grasshopper using the pseudocode as the spec — one system covering all five panels.

Five panels rebuilt parametrically

Phase 03

Python component

Brief

Reimplemented the same logic inside a Python component to control bar positions, lengths, and rotations from code.

Phase 04

Animate it

Brief

Wired sliders to position and scale, then rendered a GIF sweep — turning a static series into a continuous parametric study.

Parametric recreation - animated GIF from a Grasshopper slider sweep

Five panels rebuilt as one parametric system, plus an animated extension that reads as a sixth, in-motion Molnár.

Credits

Recreation: Yanik Wickremasinghe
Original artwork: Vera Molnár - Int/Cont (1996)
Course: UC Berkeley Arch 249 - Computational Design