# s³ / 001: Training house in the dunes, modelled by an agent in Rhino

> A quick test of how far an agent gets in architecture. From a written brief, everything shown was generated from one Rhino model.

- Type: workflow
- Date: 2026.10.20
- Time: About a day, ten iterations
- Output: 10 images, 4 drawing sheets
- Workflow: Drawings cut from the model; clay captures turned into images with Nano Banana
- Credits: Joost Helfers, system³. Claude Code driving Rhino 7 through RhinoMCP, a custom MCP server.
- Page: https://system3.xyz/builds/s3-001/

**Speculative Athletics: Training House in the dunes of the North Sea**

A speculative athletics centre for about twenty members of a fictional brand, in the dunes: three volumes (training hall, bathhouse, arrival) around a court with a plunge pool. Exposed steel frames build the structure.

The whole set came from a written brief through agentic workflows and a few custom tools: Claude Code driving Rhino 7 via a custom MCP server, subagents for planning, review, validation and landscape. Plans, sections and the 1:20 detail are cut straight from the geometry. It took about a day of work, including a few rounds of feeding corrections back to the agent.

What surprised me is how far a written brief carries. Most of this ran with very little steering and almost no manual modelling, and my time went toward setting constraints, checking numbers and deciding which version was actually better.

The base is solid. The obvious next step is more iterations, and more architectural judgement inside the process itself. There are also a few gaps in the vapour barrier in the 1:20 detail.

## Images

- ![The paved court between concrete volumes and brushed steel frames, with a plunge pool and a dune bed in the foreground.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/01-court.CHmB-fde_Z2qW0Qa.webp)
- ![The arrival pavilion behind its steel frames; in the court, the plunge with two rails and a bench.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/02-arrival.B_3RPHaq_m3cJN.webp)
- ![The training hall, a long room with a red sprint track, rings hanging from the ceiling and a glass wall along one side.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/03-training-hall.CRFPdlRk_ZcAgXE.webp)
- ![A precast path runs through a cut in the dunes to a gap in the court wall.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/04-approach.IKIpmlyS_Z1B7HNb.webp)
- ![Close-up of the plunge with its flush coping, a steel handrail and a bench with folded towels.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/05-plunge.UlN9DR3Z_rDkxm.webp)
- ![Inside the bathhouse, concrete walls, a black daybed with a towel and a lit sauna door.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/06-bathhouse.BZutu7CX_21OkJT.webp)
- ![From inside, through full-height glass to the court; black crates and mats on the floor.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/07-hall-to-court.CY3SzLql_Z2jQBwt.webp)
- ![Aerial view of the house low in the dunes, steel frames over the roofs and a pond behind.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/08-aerial.D5IwtcXR_Z2vTa5B.webp)
- ![A reed-filled pond in a dune hollow, with the long wall of the house on the ridge behind it.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/09-dune-slack.DqSUh08s_Tmm3s.webp)
- ![Steps climb a dune towards the house, the court wall and frames on the horizon.](https://system3.xyz/_astro/10-threshold.C9cRtJ52_256vLv.webp)

## Drawings

- [Site plan, 1:1000](https://system3.xyz/_astro/d1-site.UMD6oIi0_5IVNK.webp): Site plan at 1:1000, the house in the dunes with the approach, boardwalk, car park and a dune slack.
- [Ground floor plan, 1:200](https://system3.xyz/_astro/d2-plan.CRByqPap_gK1xF.webp): Ground floor plan at 1:200 on a 2.5 metre grid, with the training hall, court, bathhouse and arrival, and a room schedule.
- [Sections A–A and B–B, 1:200](https://system3.xyz/_astro/d3-sections.CMAK1NPj_1oy7LN.webp): Sections A–A and B–B at 1:200 through arrival, court, plunge, training hall and recovery.
- [Facade section 1, 1:20](https://system3.xyz/_astro/d4-detail.DVN6yZkb_Z1utDs.webp): Facade section at 1:20 through the training hall's south glass, from roof to edge beam, with a build-up list.

## Contact

- [studio@system3.xyz](mailto:studio@system3.xyz): email
- [Book a 30-minute intro call](https://calendar.app.google/aW8Sd6KV8HjN6hSMA): Google Calendar booking page
- [@system3_xyz](https://www.instagram.com/system3_xyz/): Instagram

Based in Berlin, working worldwide.