HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON — PARAMETRIC GRASSHOPPER C# SCRIPT Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series | Wonder #2
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HANGING GARDENS OF BABYLON — PARAMETRIC GRASSHOPPER C# SCRIPT
Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series | Wonder #2
wickersonstudios.com
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PRODUCT TITLE
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Hanging Gardens of Babylon — Parametric Rhino/Grasshopper C# Script
(Seven Wonders of the Ancient World Series — Script 2 of 7)
TAGLINE
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Raise Nebuchadnezzar's legendary terraced gardens from the Mesopotamian plain —
in clean NURBS geometry, organized across 20 material layers, export-ready for
Unreal Engine 5 Datasmith, FBX, or any professional 3D pipeline.
SHORT DESCRIPTION (for listings / store previews)
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A single Grasshopper C# Script component that procedurally builds the complete
Hanging Gardens of Babylon complex — stepped terraces, barrel vault substructure,
irrigated garden beds, palm groves, colonnade, Archimedes screw pump tower,
palace wing, Ishtar Gate-style glazed tile reliefs, and full Babylon city wall
context. Outputs clean Brep NURBS geometry in a 20-branch DataTree organized
by material, with one-click Rhino layer baking for UE5 Datasmith/FBX export.
No plugins required.
FULL DESCRIPTION
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The Hanging Gardens of Babylon — the only Wonder of the Ancient World for which
no confirmed archaeological remains survive — exist today only in the words of
Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, and Berossus. This parametric script is your chance
to build them in full 3D precision.
Generated entirely from a single Grasshopper C# Script component, the model
rises in six terrace levels from the flat Mesopotamian plain to 24 metres —
matching the ancient description of gardens that soared to the height of
Babylon's outer city walls. Every architectural system is modelled: the
vaulted brick substructure, the bitumen-and-lead waterproofing membrane,
the gravity-fed irrigation channels, the Archimedes screw pump tower, the
grand staircase, colonnades, cistern, aqueduct, palace integration, and the
famous Ishtar-Gate-style deep-blue glazed tile decoration.
At LOD 24 the scene includes palm groves, cascading vine curtains,
broadleaf tree canopies, bronze water pipe conduits, terracotta drainage tiles,
individual horizontal brick courses, gold-leaf column capitals, and the full
double-walled city of Babylon with crenellated towers as context.
WHAT'S INCLUDED
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- One C# Script file (.cs) for Grasshopper in Rhino 6 / 7 / 8
- 24 progressive Levels of Detail (LOD 1–24), additive and layered
- 20-branch DataTree<Brep> output organized by material
- One-click Rhino layer baking with color-coded material layers
- UE5 Datasmith / FBX export-ready layer naming convention
- Full Babylon plateau complex geometry (see feature list below)
- CFG string parametric control — no scripting knowledge required
- Zero external plugin dependencies (pure Rhino + Grasshopper SDK)
- Detailed architectural notes in the script header, sourced from
Diodorus Siculus, Strabo, Berossus, and modern scholarship
GEOMETRY FEATURES BY LOD
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LOD 1 — Six stepped terrace platform slabs (complete structural massing)
LOD 2 — Lead waterproofing deck sheets on each terrace ring
LOD 3 — Barrel vault substructure: N-S pier walls + E-W cross walls
+ vault arch header blocks visible at ground-floor south face
LOD 4 — Outer dressed-stone retaining wall face rings (all terrace levels)
LOD 5 — Garden soil bed rings on each terrace deck + full top-level bed
LOD 6 — Bitumen asphalt seal layer beneath lead waterproofing sheets
LOD 7 — N-S irrigation channels + E-W collecting headers + overflow weirs
LOD 8 — Grand south-face staircase: individual step blocks, landing slabs,
flanking side walls for all six flights
LOD 9 — Colonnade columns + circular plinths + entablature + cedar beams
(all terrace levels, all four sides)
LOD 10 — Palace north wing mass + inner courtyard ring + south gate
+ gate flanking towers + palace perimeter enclosure wall
LOD 11 — Archimedes screw pump tower (stone shaft + bronze screw cylinder
+ upper outlet channel + foundation plinth)
LOD 12 — Subgrade cistern/reservoir: walls + floor slab + water fill
+ vault ceiling slab
LOD 13 — Aqueduct supply channel (stone outer walls + water fill + base slab
+ west intake structure toward Euphrates)
LOD 14 — Broadleaf tree canopy spheres distributed across all terraces
(organic radii variation for natural visual rhythm)
LOD 15 — Date palm trees: trunk cylinders + frond crown spheres,
alternating north/south zone rows across three lower terraces
LOD 16 — Hanging vine curtain panels on south, west, and east terrace faces
(the defining visual cascade of the gardens)
LOD 17 — Outer Babylon double city wall (outer + inner parallel walls,
towers every 45 m) + Ishtar Gate mass + gate flanking towers
LOD 18 — Glazed tile relief panels (lapis-blue Ishtar Gate style):
lower terrace south face + second terrace + palace throne room
LOD 19 — Throne room + audience hall + guard hall + treasury + inner columns
+ alabaster wall panel lining
LOD 20 — Individual horizontal brick course banding on all terrace wall faces
(every third course ring modelled as separate Brep)
LOD 21 — Bronze water pipe conduits (E-W distribution pipes per terrace,
vertical riser pipes, main supply pipe from pump to cistern)
LOD 22 — Euphrates river silt plane + Mesopotamian context ground surface
LOD 23 — Terracotta drainage tile arrays at channel outlets (lower terraces)
LOD 24 — Gold-leaf column capitals, entablature frieze strips, portal crown
over staircase, Ishtar Gate crown lintel ornament
MATERIAL LAYERS (20 branches)
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Branch 0 — M_Fired_Brick kiln-fired Babylonian brick
Branch 1 — M_Reed_Bitumen asphalt bitumen waterproofing seal
Branch 2 — M_Lead_Sheet flat lead waterproofing membrane
Branch 3 — M_Stone_Slab dressed limestone stair treads & paving
Branch 4 — M_Marble_Column colonnade columns, plinths, entablatures
Branch 5 — M_Cedar_Beam roof beams and walkway decking
Branch 6 — M_Garden_Soil deep irrigated planting medium
Branch 7 — M_Lush_Foliage broadleaf tree canopy masses
Branch 8 — M_Palm_Tree date palm trunks and frond crowns
Branch 9 — M_Vine_Curtain cascading vine and creeper curtains
Branch 10 — M_Water_Channel open channels, cistern fill, aqueduct
Branch 11 — M_Bronze_Pipe distribution pipes, Archimedes screw
Branch 12 — M_Terracotta_Tile fired drainage tiles on terrace floors
Branch 13 — M_Alabaster_Panel throne room wall linings
Branch 14 — M_Gold_Leaf_Detail gilded capitals, friezes, portal ornament
Branch 15 — M_Outer_City_Wall Babylon double wall + towers + Ishtar Gate
Branch 16 — M_River_Silt Euphrates river channel plane
Branch 17 — M_Context_Ground Mesopotamian alluvial plain surface
Branch 18 — M_Palace_Limestone Nebuchadnezzar's Southern Palace stone
Branch 19 — M_Glazed_Tile_Relief lapis-blue glazed brick — lions, dragons,
bulls (Ishtar Gate decorative motif)
KEY PARAMETRIC CONTROLS (CFG string)
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Pass a semicolon-delimited key=value string to override any default parameter.
All units are millimetres.
lod=24 — Level of Detail (1–24)
base_half_ew=65000 — E-W platform half-width [130 m total]
base_half_ns=65000 — N-S platform half-width [130 m total]
terrace_count=6 — Number of stepped terrace levels
terrace_step=8500 — Horizontal setback per side per terrace (mm)
terrace_height=4000 — Height of each terrace level (mm)
wall_thickness=6700 — Structural wall thickness (Diodorus: 22 feet)
vault_span=5800 — Barrel vault clear span (mm)
vault_wall_t=1200 — Vault pier/wall thickness (mm)
column_radius=500 — Colonnade column shaft radius (mm)
column_height=3500 — Colonnade column height (mm)
column_count=8 — Columns per side per terrace level
stair_width=8000 — Grand staircase width (mm)
step_rise=250 — Individual step riser height (mm)
step_tread=400 — Individual step tread depth (mm)
soil_depth=1200 — Planting soil layer depth (mm)
tree_count=10 — Broadleaf tree canopy count per terrace
tree_canopy_r=3500 — Canopy sphere radius (mm)
palm_height=14000 — Date palm tree height (mm)
pump_tower_h=28000 — Archimedes screw tower height (mm)
palace_w=180000 — Palace wing E-W width (mm) [180 m]
palace_h=12000 — Palace wing height (mm)
outer_wall_d=200000 — City wall radius from centre (mm) [200 m]
outer_wall_h=18000 — City wall height (mm)
tower_spacing=45000 — Defensive tower interval along wall (mm)
brick_course_h=350 — Brick course height for LOD 20 detail (mm)
river_x=-350000 — Euphrates river X offset from centre (mm)
Example CFG strings:
lod=10;terrace_count=5;palace_h=15000
lod=16;base_half_ew=75000;tree_count=14
lod=24;pump_tower_h=32000;column_count=10
ARCHITECTURAL ACCURACY NOTES
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This model is based on the best available classical textual sources and
modern scholarly reconstruction, including:
- Diodorus Siculus (1st century BCE): base of 4 plethra (~120 m) per side;
height equal to the outer city walls (~23 m); theatre-like stepped form.
- Strabo (c. 20 BCE): vaulted terraces raised one above another; water
raised continuously by screws alongside the stairway.
- Berossus (c. 290 BCE): built by Nebuchadnezzar II for his Median queen.
- Ishtar Gate reference: the signature deep lapis-blue glazed brick reliefs
of the Neo-Babylonian period, featuring the mušḫuššu dragon, striding
lion, and Apis bull motifs — sourced from the surviving Ishtar Gate
(now in the Pergamon Museum, Berlin).
- Waterproofing system: Diodorus explicitly notes that the vault ceilings
were sealed with reed matting, bitumen, and lead sheets to prevent water
damage — all three layers are modelled separately (LOD 2, 6).
- Water supply: Strabo's "screws" are interpreted as Archimedean screw
pumps, the most efficient lifting device of the period. The pump tower
(LOD 11) rises above the highest terrace to allow gravity feed back down.
Default platform dimensions (130 m × 130 m, 24 m tall) are intentionally
slightly larger than the strictest reading of 4 plethra to produce a visually
monumental model appropriate for media and game production. Use the CFG
string to dial in any interpretation you prefer.
HOW TO USE
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1. Open Rhino and launch Grasshopper (type "Grasshopper" or press Ctrl+Shift+G)
2. Double-click the Grasshopper canvas → search "C# Script" → place component
3. Double-click the C# Script component to open the code editor
4. Select all existing code and replace it with the contents of this .cs file
5. Click OK / close the editor
6. Connect inputs:
CFG (String) — leave empty for defaults, or wire a Panel with overrides
Bake (Boolean) — toggle True to bake geometry to Rhino layers
7. Connect output:
Geometry (DataTree<Brep>) — wire to a custom preview or Brep parameter
8. The script generates the complete Babylon complex at the specified LOD
BAKING TO RHINO LAYERS
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Set the Bake input to True with a Boolean Toggle. The script will:
- Create a parent layer named "HangingGardens" with a green indicator color
- Create 20 child layers (one per material) with archaeologically inspired
color coding matching each material type
- Bake all Brep geometry to the appropriate material layers
- All layers are immediately ready for Datasmith export or FBX by layer
EXPORT TO UNREAL ENGINE 5
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Via Datasmith (recommended):
- Install Rhino Datasmith plugin for UE5
- File > Export > Datasmith (.udatasmith)
- Layer hierarchy maps directly to UE5 static mesh actors with material slots
- Apply Megascans / custom materials by matching the M_ layer name prefix
Via FBX:
- File > Export Selected (select all objects by layer)
- Export FBX 2019, "Export object layers as groups" enabled
- Import into UE5 with "Import Materials" checked
- Use the M_ prefixed layer names to drive Material Instance assignments
COMPATIBILITY
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Rhino version: 6, 7, 8 (Windows and Mac)
Grasshopper: Built-in (no separate install needed)
External plugins: None required
.NET target: .NET 4.8 (Rhino 7/8) / .NET 4.5 (Rhino 6)
UE5 Datasmith: 5.0, 5.1, 5.2, 5.3, 5.4, 5.5
SERIES CONTEXT — SEVEN WONDERS OF THE ANCIENT WORLD
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This script is Wonder #2 in the full series:
1. Great Pyramid of Giza [available now — wickersonstudios.com]
2. Hanging Gardens of Babylon [THIS SCRIPT]
3. Statue of Zeus at Olympia [coming soon]
4. Temple of Artemis at Ephesus [coming soon]
5. Mausoleum at Halicarnassus [coming soon]
6. Colossus of Rhodes [coming soon]
7. Lighthouse of Alexandria [coming soon]
Also available from Wickerson Studios:
Colosseum Parametric Script [Parametric Monument Series #1]
Bundle the full Seven Wonders series for significant savings.
Visit wickersonstudios.com for the complete catalogue.
WHY WICKERSON STUDIOS
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Every script in the Parametric Monument Series and the Seven Wonders series
is built to professional production standards:
+ Historically researched from primary and secondary sources
+ Clean NURBS Brep geometry — no meshes, no SubD, no plugins
+ Material-organized DataTree output matching UE5 naming conventions
+ Fully parametric via CFG string — no scripting knowledge needed
+ Immediate Rhino layer baking for team-based asset pipelines
+ Detailed in-script architectural notes for researchers and educators
+ Regular updates as the series grows
These scripts are used by architectural visualisation studios, game
environment artists, VFX teams, educators, and history enthusiasts worldwide.
SUPPORT
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For questions about Grasshopper setup, CFG parameters, UE5 integration,
or custom dimension requests, visit wickersonstudios.com.
Custom LOD configurations, material renaming, or bespoke wonder reconstructions
available on commission.
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© 2026 Wickerson Studios — Hanging Gardens of Babylon Script v1.0
wickersonstudios.com
For personal, commercial, and educational use. No redistribution for resale.
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