PETRA — AL-KHAZNEH (THE TREASURY) — Parametric Grasshopper C# Script New Seven Wonders of the World Series — Wonder #2

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PETRA — AL-KHAZNEH (THE TREASURY) — Parametric Grasshopper C# Script

New Seven Wonders of the World Series — Wonder #2

PRODUCT TITLE:

Petra — Al-Khazneh (The Treasury) — Parametric Grasshopper C# Script

TAGLINE:

The rose-red city's most iconic monument — a 40-metre Hellenistic facade carved into living sandstone — procedurally generated in clean NURBS Brep geometry with 40 progressive levels of detail, 20 material layers, and one-click Rhino baking. The highest LOD count in the series.

SHORT DESCRIPTION:

A single Grasshopper C# Script component that procedurally generates the complete Al-Khazneh (Treasury) at Petra, Jordan — the masterpiece of Nabataean rock-cut architecture dating to the 1st century BC. The two-storey Hellenistic facade features a hexastyle Corinthian portico, central tholos with conical dome and urn finial, flanking kiosks with broken pediments, relief sculptures (Dioscuri, Amazons, Isis-Tyche, eagles, Medusa gorgoneion), 24-flute column shafts with acanthus leaf capitals, interior burial chambers, the Siq canyon approach with water channels and votive niches, sandstone colour banding, erosion weathering, neighbouring tomb facades, and the Obelisk Tomb with Djinn blocks. Forty additive LODs — the highest in either series. Twenty material branches with rose sandstone palette. Zero external plugin dependencies.

FULL DESCRIPTION

Al-Khazneh — "The Treasury" — is the most recognisable monument at Petra, the ancient Nabataean capital carved into the sandstone cliffs of southern Jordan. Built during the reign of Aretas IV or Obodas III (1st century BC), the facade combines Nabataean funerary tradition with sophisticated Hellenistic architectural vocabulary learned from Alexandria and the wider Greco-Roman world.

The facade is carved directly into the cliff face — there is no constructed masonry. The entire composition is a single subtractive sculpture in living rock, from the Corinthian capitals to the delicate frieze garlands. The distinctive rose-red colour comes from iron oxide in the Cambrian sandstone, with natural geological banding creating horizontal stripes of pink, orange, cream, and burgundy.

This script reconstructs the monument based on Judith McKenzie's archaeological surveys, ACOR documentation, Browning's reconstruction, and UNESCO World Heritage site records. Every dimension is parametrically driven through the CFG string.

WHAT'S INCLUDED

• PetraTreasury_GH_Script.cs — Complete C# script (~1100 lines)

• PetraTreasury_README.txt — Quick-start guide, LOD reference, CFG parameters

• This product listing

GEOMETRY FEATURES BY LOD (40 LEVELS)

CLIFF & FACADE BASE (LOD 1–3)

1 — Cliff face massing (80m × 65m sandstone mass)

2 — Facade recess (carved niche, 28m × 40m)

3 — Lower storey back wall (portico backdrop)

LOWER STOREY — HEXASTYLE PORTICO (LOD 4–7)

4 — 6 Corinthian column shafts

5 — Column pedestals + Attic base mouldings

6 — Corinthian capitals (bell + abacus)

7 — Entablature (architrave + frieze + cornice)

UPPER STOREY — THOLOS COMPOSITION (LOD 8–14)

8 — Upper storey back wall

9 — Central tholos drum (circular temple form)

10 — Tholos engaged columns (6 Corinthian)

11 — Tholos conical roof/dome (6 diminishing courses)

12 — Urn finial (body + neck + cap)

13 — Side kiosks (2 flanking pavilions)

14 — Broken pediments (2 half-pediments flanking tholos)

COLUMNAR DETAIL (LOD 15–17)

15 — Kiosk columns (4 total, 2 per kiosk)

16 — Tholos Corinthian capitals

17 — Tholos entablature ring

SCULPTURAL PROGRAMME (LOD 18–19, 31, 38)

18 — Lower intercolumnar figures (Dioscuri / Castor & Pollux)

19 — Upper storey figures (Amazons, Isis-Tyche in tholos)

31 — Eagle sculptures atop broken pediments

38 — Medusa / gorgoneion relief on lower frieze

TOMB INTERIOR (LOD 20–21)

20 — Tomb entrance doorway (lintel + threshold)

21 — Interior burial chambers (3 rooms: main + 2 side)

GEOLOGICAL & DECORATIVE DETAIL (LOD 22–24)

22 — Sandstone colour banding (8 geological strata on cliff)

23 — Lower frieze garland swags + rosettes

24 — Upper frieze / tholos entablature rosettes

SIQ CANYON APPROACH (LOD 25–26, 32, 36)

25 — Siq canyon walls (120m gorge, left + right walls + floor)

26 — Plaza floor (open area before facade)

32 — Nabataean water channels (carved into Siq floor)

36 — Siq wall votive niches + betyl blocks

COLUMN CRAFT (LOD 29–30)

29 — Column fluting (24 flutes per shaft, all 6 columns)

30 — Corinthian capital acanthus leaf detail (2 rows × 8 leaves)

ORNAMENTAL (LOD 28, 37)

28 — Kiosk pediment acroteria (finials, 6 total)

37 — Dentil course (lower + upper entablature)

CONTEXT & LANDSCAPE (LOD 27, 33–35, 39–40)

27 — Erosion weathering detail on cliff face (30 random scars)

33 — Neighbouring tomb facades (4 simplified)

34 — Desert terrain ground plane

35 — Surrounding cliff formations + background mountain

39 — Bullet damage / erosion scars on facade (historical)

40 — Obelisk Tomb + Bab as-Siq triclinium + Djinn blocks

MATERIAL LAYERS (20 Branches)

Branch 0 — M_Sandstone_Rose Primary rose-red sandstone

Branch 1 — M_Sandstone_Dark Dark burgundy geological bands

Branch 2 — M_Sandstone_Light Cream/light strata bands

Branch 3 — M_Sandstone_Band Orange/intermediate bands

Branch 4 — M_Facade_Carved Carved facade surfaces

Branch 5 — M_Column_Shaft Column shafts + fluting

Branch 6 — M_Corinthian_Capital Capitals, acanthus leaves

Branch 7 — M_Entablature Architrave, frieze, cornice, dentils

Branch 8 — M_Relief_Sculpture Figural reliefs (Dioscuri, eagles, Medusa)

Branch 9 — M_Urn_Finial Crown urn + acroteria

Branch 10 — M_Tholos_Marble Central tholos drum + dome

Branch 11 — M_Pediment Broken pediment forms

Branch 12 — M_Interior_Chamber Tomb interior rooms

Branch 13 — M_Siq_Canyon_Wall Canyon approach walls

Branch 14 — M_Siq_Floor Canyon + plaza paving

Branch 15 — M_Cliff_Main Main cliff mass

Branch 16 — M_Desert_Terrain Ground plane

Branch 17 — M_Erosion_Detail Weathering scars

Branch 18 — M_Tomb_Entrance Doorways, thresholds

Branch 19 — M_Context_Rock Neighbouring tombs, canyon walls, mountains

KEY PARAMETRIC CONTROLS (CFG String)

lod Level of detail (1–40)

facadeW Facade width (default 28000mm)

facadeH Facade height (default 40000mm)

facadeD Facade relief depth (default 3000mm)

cliffW Cliff face width (default 80000mm)

cliffH Cliff height (default 65000mm)

lowerH Lower storey height (default 19000mm)

numCols Column count (default 6, hexastyle)

colR Column radius (default 650mm)

colH Column height (default 12500mm)

colSpacing Column spacing (default 3800mm)

tholosR Tholos radius (default 4500mm)

tholosH Tholos height (default 10000mm)

tholosCols Tholos column count (default 6)

domeH Dome height (default 3500mm)

urnH Urn finial height (default 3000mm)

urnR Urn radius (default 800mm)

kioskW Side kiosk width (default 5000mm)

kioskH Kiosk height (default 12000mm)

pedW Pediment half-span (default 6000mm)

pedRise Pediment rise (default 2500mm)

siqLen Siq canyon length (default 120000mm)

siqW Siq width (default 5000mm)

siqH Siq wall height (default 50000mm)

segs Cylinder segments (default 24)

Example CFG: "lod=20;facadeH=45000;numCols=8;tholosR=5000"

WHAT MAKES THIS SCRIPT UNIQUE

• Rock-cut architecture — the first subtractive (carved-from-cliff) monument in the series, requiring a fundamentally different geometric approach than built structures

• Highest LOD count in either series (40 levels) — from raw cliff massing to individual column fluting, acanthus leaves, and dentil courses

• Complete Hellenistic sculptural programme — Dioscuri, Amazons, Isis-Tyche, eagles, Medusa gorgoneion, all placed at archaeologically correct positions

• Geological sandstone banding — 8 colour strata on the cliff face using 3 separate material branches for rose/dark/light/orange bands

• Siq canyon approach — the dramatic 120m gorge with narrowing walls, floor paving, water channels, and votive niches

• Weathering and erosion — procedurally placed erosion scars on cliff and facade, including historical damage marks

ARCHITECTURAL ACCURACY NOTES

• Facade dimensions (~40m × 28m) per McKenzie archaeological survey

• Two-storey composition: hexastyle portico below, tholos-with-kiosks above

• 6 Corinthian columns per Hellenistic hexastyle convention

• Broken pediments (unique to Petra) — half-pediments flanking central tholos

• Urn finial — the "treasure" that gives Al-Khazneh its name (Bedouin legend of hidden gold)

• Interior: 3 burial chambers (main hall + 2 side rooms) confirmed by excavation

• Siq approach: 1.2km canyon narrowing to 5m width, 50m+ cliff walls

• Nabataean water channels cut into Siq walls — part of sophisticated hydraulic engineering

• Sandstone colour from iron oxide in Cambrian-Ordovician bedrock

• Dioscuri figures (Castor & Pollux) confirmed by McKenzie's iconographic analysis

SERIES CONTEXT

New Seven Wonders of the World — Parametric Grasshopper C# Scripts:

#1 Great Wall of China ✓

#2 Petra (Al-Khazneh) ✓ ← THIS SCRIPT

#3 Christ the Redeemer (coming soon)

#4 Machu Picchu (coming soon)

#5 Chichen Itza (coming soon)

#6 Roman Colosseum (coming soon)

#7 Taj Mahal (coming soon)

Also available: Seven Wonders of the Ancient World (complete set of 7)

COMPATIBILITY

• Rhino 6 (.NET 4.5), Rhino 7 (.NET 4.8), Rhino 8 (.NET 4.8)

• Grasshopper built-in C# Script component

• Zero external plugin dependencies — All units: millimetres — Pure NURBS Brep

SUPPORT

Questions or issues? Contact us at wickersonstudios.com.

You will get the following files:

GH (24KB)
ZIP (17KB)

PETRA — AL-KHAZNEH (THE TREASURY) — Parametric Grasshopper C# Script New Seven Wonders of the World Series — Wonder #2

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