PORTFOLIO FEDERICO DI FONZO STRUCTURAL ENGINEER | GRADUATE IN BUILDING ENGINEERING & ARCHITECTURE
ACADEMIC | COMPETITION
04.10.20
FEDERICO DI FONZO federico.df@live.it | +39 3382562916 Italian | 29th January 1996 | Rome, Italy My work investigates the close relationship between structure and architecture. In particular, it is meant to highlight how a structure can influence the quality of a space. My interest concerns complex and innovative structures with an eye on parametric strategies. The approach used in this work covers all the basic steps in the design process from concepts to production. I explore all the possibilities through extensive research on new materials because I’ve always believed that “God is in the details”.
EDUCATION University of Rome “Tor Vergata” Rome, Italy | 10.14 - 02.20 | 5 years Master degree in Architectural and Building Engineering Final mark: 110/110 cum laude Dissertation: “Design of a parametric module in bioplastic for the construction of an architectural installation” | Including: Construction science, Fundamentals of Geotechnics, Constructive elements technology, Construction of architecture, Construction technique. University of Kent Canterbury, England | 09.17 - 07.18 | 10 months Erasmus+ Student, Faculty of Humanities, Architecture Including: Architectural design, Architectural practice, Climate, Digital Architecture, Forms & Structure, Urban Intervention. Liceo Scientifico Statale “S. Cannizzaro” Rome, Italy | 09.08 - 07.14 | 5 years High school Diploma Final mark: 100/100
ADDITIONAL EXPERIENCE Structural Engineer Rome, Italy | 09.20 - ongoing | 3TI PROGETTI S.p.A. I am working as a structural engineer in various metro station projects through BIM methodology. Tasks include designing and performing structural analysis on international projects.
Workshop “Form finding strategies” Milan, Italy | 7-10.11.19 | 4 days A. Tedeschi & M. Degni | Le Penseur Publishing Second step in the “AAD Workshop Series”. The work included environmental analysis and structural optimization through: Grasshopper, Weaverbird, Kangaroo, Geco/Ecotect, Ladybug and Millipede. Workshop “Plug It” Milan, Italy | 9-13.10.19 | 5 days A. Tedeschi & M. Degni | Le Penseur Publishing First step in the “AAD Workshop Series”. The course included algorithmic and parametric modeling techniques through Grasshopper and Rhinoceros. Workshop “Protopia Maio” Ischia, Italy | 10-15.09.18 | 6 days Atsushi Kitagawara | PIDA I took part in the design and structural process finalized to the reconstruction of the areas affected by the earthquake in 2017.
SKILLS Structural Analysis Sofistik, midas Gen, Concrete: Sismicad. 3D modeling, 2D drafting & scripting Autodesk: Revit Architecture, AutoCAD, Sketchup, Grasshopper & Rhinoceros, Python. Digital Image and Rendering Autodesk: 3ds Max, Adobe CC: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. Physical Modeling Ultimaker Cura, 3D printing and laser cutting file preparation, physical model making. Languages Italian (native), English (B2), Spanish (B1).
| PROJECTS |
PLASTIC GATE TEMPORARY PAVILION | DISSERTATION & COMPETITION - Page 5 -
UNCONVENTIONAL LANDSCAPE ONE WORLD WORKSHOP | ACADEMIC - Page 13 -
FOLD FINDING ORIGAMI PAVILION | ACADEMIC & PERSONAL INTEREST - Page 21 -
EXPERIMENTS | STUDIES
IMMATERIAL PARAMETRIC STRATEGIES | PERSONAL INTEREST - Page 35 -
PLASTIC GATE | TEMPORARY PAVILION BOLOGNA, ITALY
PLASTIC GATE | TEMPORARY PAVILION BOLOGNA, ITALY “By nature, plastic waste is indestructible and currently there is an incalculable amount of it on the planet. Human beings are losing the fight against plastic waste. Actually, plastic is not an enemy. It made space travels possible. It revolutionized medicine. Daily, it saves millions of people making food resources safe and accessible to the poorest populations of the planet. What is needed is not a world without plastic. What is needed now is a revolutionized awareness about waste management. Moreover, a technological research to create sustainable alternatives to traditional polymers is required.” (PLASTIC MONUMENT - Brief . Young Architects Competition) THE IDEA OF THE PAVILION COMES FROM THE THEME OF PLASTIC WASTE ENLIGHTENED BY THE COMPETITION “PLASTIC MONUMENT” HELD BY YOUNG ARCHITECTS COMPETITION IN COLLABORATION WITH THE GIANT OF PHOTOGRAPHY NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC, BIO-ON: WHO REPRESENTS THE ITALIAN BIOPOLYMER EXCELLENCY AND GENUS BONONIAE: THE PRESTIGIOUS NETWORK OF MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL BUILDINGS OF THE CITY OF BOLOGNA. This project tries to respond to the goal of the competition that consists in creating an itinerant architectural installation that should be an icon of eco-sustainability and a statement against global pollution. It embodies also the main constraints and features of the competition: -COST-EFFECTIVENESS: there is no fixed budget in the brief. However, the installation should be sustainable both from a technological and an economical point of view; -RESISTANCE: due to the itinerant nature of the project, the installation should be designed to enable its setting up both indoor and outdoor; -TRANSPORTABILITY: according to its function, the installation will have to be easily transportable and mountable. The weight and dimensions of the project should be accessible by few people; -DURABILITY: the installation will have to be made of durable materials or materials that can be easily replaced; -STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS: the installation will have to be self-supporting since it will have to adapt to different contexts. Taking into account these principles the idea of the project was to design a light modular pavilion made of bioplastic.
Accepting the challenge of the competition, a PLA based material was chosen for this project, as a sustainable alternative to traditional polymers. Aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the potential application of biopolymers in structural design and construction field through the design of a modular pavilion. All the modules are 3D printed in HBP® material by Kanèsis. HBP® is a hemp filament: PLA matrix with addiction of hemp shives. Processing hemp hurds into a fine powder and combining it with PLA, Kanèsis obtains a natural brown colour and an improvement of the traction effort if compared to common PLA while maintaining a good elasticity. The process started with a basic form-finding strategy. Getting inspired by the quadrangular pyramid trunk geometry of the Conifera’s module, all principal regular polygon geometries were explored in order to evaluate their symmetry and potential repeatability in a modular configuration. Eventually the hexagonal-based module was chosen for the design. The next challenge consisted in generating a geometry that could span a handy distance only by using the right combination of modules. Symmetry and repeatability were the key aspects evaluated. Modules were connected by their slanting edges. It resulted to be the most efficient configuration thanks to its flexibility and lower density. Just by using one single type of connection countless configuration could be created. This peculiarity answered perfectly the aim of this project to design a formless pavilion in order to investigate the potential of bioplastic in architectural design.
The pavilion is composed by three macro-modules. The particular structure of the system, in addition to the low weight of each module (around 10kg) allows the pavilion to be assembled by just few workers. Macro-modules are pinned together while modules are connected between them just by plastic cable ties. Each module is 80cm tall with a width of 40cm. The module has been designed through a parametric approach that allowed to have a final product ready to be 3D-printed. An accurate structrual analysis has been performed on this pavilion. Due to the temporary nature of the project just dead load (D) and the effect of wind load (W) have been considered for the analysis. Because of the general complexity of the whole pavilion, the global analysis was performed on a simplified model. Moreover, since the temporary pavilion is a combination of three macro-modules connected between each other by hinges, just a single macro-module is verified. Modules instead of being represented in their reticular structure have been replaced with area elements. Superposition of Load Cases was made according to the European Normative: “EN 1992-1-1: 2004 Concrete Structures� since no other regulations are available in terms of plastic/bioplastic structures. After that maximum and minimum support reactions have been chosen as the guiding principles for structural design to verify the most stressed module.
Last step in this design process was the module’s final production. Since it has been designed with computational tools the module was ready to be 3D-printed. In order to be printed out it has been necessary to produce a G-code to comunicate with the printer. The use of Grasshopper in the design process allowed all these steps to be easily accessible. Due to the particular requirements of most FDM printers the module has been designed in order to avoid any cantileverd part as mush as possible. The module has been 3D printed with an Ultimaker 2+ and the slicer Cura (by David Braam). With a general thickness of 6.5mm and a height of 200mm the model is a 1:4 scale model of the original module. The settings of the 3D printer have been managed in order to get maximum performance with the use of a bespoken material. Despite its scale, the model presents a good rigidity and an impressive transparency, two key aspects in the module design. Enpowered by:
UNCONVENTIONAL LANDSCAPE | ONE WORLD WORKSHOP THE HISTORIC DOCKYARD, CHATAM, UK
UNCONVENTIONAL LANDSCAPE | ONE WORLD WORKSHOP THE HISTORIC DOCKYARD, CHATAM, UK “One World Workshop: a place where fresh stories of enterprise and identity begin.” (ONE WORLD WORKSHOP - Brief. Kent School of Architecture) THE CHALLENGE CONSISTED IN DESIGNING A MAJOR MIXED-USE DEVELOPMENT FOR A WATERFRONT SITE IN CHATHAM’S HISTORIC DOCKYARD. THE PROJECT WOULD INVESTIGATE AN URBAN HYBRID TYPOLOGY THAT CAN ACCOMMODATE THE NATIVE CITIZEN ALONGSIDE URBAN NOMAD IN A PLACE THAT IS BOTH CULTURALLY PROGRESSIVE AND ECONOMICALLY SUSTAINABLE. THE SPECIFIC INTENT IS TO STIMULATE THE RE-INTEGRATION OF THE HISTORIC DOCKYARD’S ACTIVITIES WITH THE TOWN AND ITS LONG-TERM INHABITANTS. The project responds to the extraordinary mix of conditions within the immediate, intermediate and wider urban context. This proposal enhances these existing conditions to create a meaningful ‘sense of place’. Being surrounded by the universities of Kent, Greenwich and Canterbury Christ Church that share campus at north, by Chatham city centre at south and by Medway city estate from the other side of River Medway, this urban and design project works as a connector between the past and the future. It involves the restoration of the historical monorail, a public waterfront route that links marina to the Dockyard and Chatham city centre, a new museum and more important an OWW (One World Workshop). Around the building, that settles in front of the North Mast Pond and next to the historical Covered Slips the landscape integrates a system of phytoremediation: a technique utilised mostly in Europe to transform grey water into potable water in a natural and efficient way without any additional energy supply. This system is studied in order to convert the former dockyard in a modern and sustainable attraction giving it a new life.
“Settled by the riverside this project acts as a connection between the past and the future. An unconventional landscape leads the Chatham Historic Dockyard in this transition period and restores a sleepy environment; bringing the community back where it belonged.” One World Workshop (OWW) is intended to serve students, graduates and lecturers from the diverse range of professional courses at University of Kent Medway, alongside creative Small Medium Enterprise (SME’s) tenants, and conference attendees, instigating a dynamic fusion of business and research related activity. The building accomodates 1500m2 of flexible covered even space, around 2500m2 of work spaces combining rentable workspaces and conference rooms with informal meeting and circulation spaces and other dedicated-use spaces such as: bookshop, cafè, formal lecture theatre.
The wildcard of this project consists in a system of phytoremediation situated around the building that transforms grey water into potable water in a natural and efficient way without any additional energy supply.
1 2 34
5
6
8 9
7
10
11 12 13
A
B
1. Double-skin facade; 2. Insulated layer 50mm; 3. L-Bracket; 4. Tail boom beam; 5. Primary beam IPE400; 6. Openable outlet; 7. Hanger for ceiling; 8. Support bracket; 9. Double-C beam; 10. Exagonal end clip; 11. CLT cladding; 12. CLT structure: 210mm; 13. Fiberglass batt: 80mm.
A good technical and environmental strategy is an essential part of good architecture. Since the concept of the project regards the void as the essential space where the visitor may reflects himself in, the bulding is conceived as a ‘box in the box’. An internal CLT regular structure with a concrete core is surrounded and wrapped in an outer steel frame that supports a translucent double-skin facade. The outer skin of the building is made of an economical industrial material with translucent insulation that creates a translucent glow at night. Only the internal structure is treated as a common building and thermal insulated while the rest of the building, always accessible from the public, is heated and illuminated just by sunlight. A passive ventilation strategy is also adopted in this project through vertical and horizontal circulation. Fresh air constantly permeates the space and enters the internal structure, passes through internal outlets and leaves the building through an openable outlet in the double-skin facade. Enpowered by:
FOLD FINDING | ORIGAMI PAVILION KENT COUNTRYSIDE, UK
FOLD FINDING | ORIGAMI PAVILION KENT COUNTRYSIDE, UK THE BRIEF INVESTIGATES THE CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN STRUCTURE AND ARCHITECTURE. IT IS MEANT TO HIGHLIGHT HOW A STRUCTURE CAN INFLUENCE THE QUALITY OF A SPACE. THE CHALLENGE CONSISTED IN DESIGNING A ROOF AND ITS SUPPORTS TO BE SETTLED IN THE KENT COUNTRYSIDE. THE ROOF IS TO COVER AN AREA OF AT LEAST 400 SQUARE METERS. WITHIN THIS AREA, NO INTERNAL COLUMNS OR SUPPORTS ARE PERMITTED. CLEAR HEADROOM UNDER THE ROOF OF AT LEAST 5 METERS IS TO BE MAINTAINED AND IT WILL BE UNHEATED. The project tries to embody the peculiar peacefulness of the Kent countryside. The roof that spans for more than 20 meters in each direction is meant to represent a gate that reconnects visitors with nature. The close relationship between structure and architecture is entrusted to the fundamental relationship between humans and nature. For this reason shape and material are the two key aspects of this project. This pavilion recalls ancient shelters’ geometry that have always been a cover for humans. The slight double-curved geometry of this shell proves to be very benecial when it comes to global deflections, for example those caused by wind loads. The second aspect is the material: timber is a natural and renewable building material very close to nature. This pavilion is a folded plate structure entirely made of timber without the need of any additional adhesive bonding. This has been reached thanks to the use of dovetail joints. Through their single-degree-of-freedom (1DOF) geometry, these joints block the relative movement of two parts in all but one direction while providing a sufficient stiffness and rigidity. The integrated joints have played an important role for the assembly of the components.
Thanks to C. Robeller and Y. Weinand’s research and their computational tool on interlocking folded plate structures, it was possible to design the pavilion and to generate both the geometry of the individual components and the machine G-Code required for fabrication. The tool processes an untrimmed surface and generates 1DOF joints for all non-naked edges where the fold angle is acceptable (between 80° and 140°). The most challenging part of the design was the simultaneously asembly of non-parallel edges plates. In order to do that, the bisector angle between two consecutive panel’s sides has been chosen as the insertion vector. This allowed to have a completely interlocking folded plate structure. In order to do so, a step-by-step sequence must be planned for the assembly of the parts. One of the main reasons for the choice of dovetail joints in this project is the possibility of automatic fabrication. LVL (laminated veneer lumber) panels have been chosen for the design and structural analysis. Kerto-Q structural grade LVL panels allowed to span over 20m at a thickness of just 51mm. This strong and rigid product is designed to be used as a load-bearing material and is also suitable for CNC fabricaion. With a material’s flatwise bending strenght of 36 N/mm2 this pavilion has been tested with both gravity and asymmetric loads. The structure resulted to bear more than 2500kN vertically and 500kN asimmetrically. Connections between plates were considered as completely rigid in order to obtain minimal displacements of the structure. Boundary conditions restrain displacements of the supports in every direction, but allow rotations and were applied on both sides. Enpowered by:
144
146
145
148 149
147
128 126
130
127
131
129
110 108
112
109
113
111 92
90 91
74
73
57 38
36 37
0
77
56
54
1
76
75
55
18
95
93
72
19
94
39 20 21 2
3
58 59 40 41 22 23 4 5
150 151 132 133 114 115 96 97 78 79 60 61 42 43 24 25 6 7
152 153 134 135 116 117 98 99 80 81 62 63 44 45 26 27 8 9
154 155 136 137 118 119 100 101 82 83 64 65 46 47 28 29 10 11
156 157 138 139 120 121 102 103 84 85 66 67 48 49 30 31 12 13
158 159
160
161
140 142 141
143
122 124 123
125
104 106 105
107
86
88 89
87 68
70 71
69 50 51
52 53
32
34
33 14 15
35 16 17
The computational approach used in this project together with the amazing script developped by C. Robeller and Y. Weinand allowed to control the design process from concept stage to findal production. This tool, in fact, automatically generates the G-code required for fabrication and it is really easy to use. An additional feature that has been possible to obtain with this method was the identification of every single piece through their ID numbers. IDs are generated as closed polylines so it is possible to have them marked on the surface if needed. This tool allowed to lay out on the world XY plane both valid closed meshes and 2D closed polylines. This second aspect is particularly important in plate fabrication using 5-axis cutting machines.
In modern timber construction, such CNC-fabricated 1DOF joints are commonly used in frame structures. The method presented in this work builds upon previous research, allowing for new geometric variations such as non-orthogonal 1DOF plate joints. In addition to the use of milling tools, the method is compatible with 5-axis laser cutting and 5-axis waterjet cutting. Integral Mechanical Attachment (IMA) uses features in the form of components for their connection. In addition to the transfer of forces, locator features are used as integral assembly guides. This criterion is particularly dear to me since it allows to construct with a single material.
Enpowered by:
IMMATERIAL | PARAMETRIC STRATEGIES
A
B
C
IMMATERIAL | PARAMETRIC STRATEGIES LATTICE STRUCTURE “Visual elements as the means of an architectural composition, therefore, are not only something to attract interest and to induce movement, but also essentially to create restfulness in which the potential of life, work and human continuity are embedded.” (THE TAO OF ARCHITECTURE - A. I. T. Chang) THIS EXPERIMENT INVESTIGATES THE POTENTIAL OF COMPUTATIONAL TOOLS WHEN PROVIDING ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION OR STRUCTURAL DESIGN. LATTICE STRUCTURES ARE EXPLORED COMBINING POWERFUL TOOLS WITHIN THE SAME DESIGN ENVIRONMENT. THIS OFFERS THE OBVIOUS ADVANTAGE OF EASILY CONTROLLING THE ENTIRE DESIGN PROCESS FROM CONCEPT SKETCHES TO STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION. This work takes full advantage of computational tools such as Crystallon (by Aaron Porterfield) for creating lattice structures and Dendro (by ECR LABS) that provides multiple ways to wrap points, curves, and meshes as a volumetric data type, allowing you to then perform various operations on those volumes along with other great plugins within Rhino’s design environment. The process may be summarized in three consequential steps: the first one consists in defining the design space into which the lattice structure will be generated. To do so, any set of surfaces, meshes or solids can be chosen. In this case, two freefrom surfaces define the space (A). Second step consists in generating an array of elements of volume within the three-dimensional space (B). These voxels will then be used to populate the space with unit cells (beams or shells) to create a lattice structure. Below is the representation of the unit cell used in this project. Once the design space is populated (C), the lattice structure is ready and it is now possible to perform boolean operations or other transformations on it, such as giving it a variable thickness as in this work.
IMMATERIAL | PARAMETRIC STRATEGIES TOPOSTRUCT 2D “Conceptually, additive techniques revolutionize the topic of optimization. [...]. Optimization of additive techniques involves finding the optimal shape which meets a prescribed set of perfomance targets; such as minimally using material. Additionally, advanced form-finding strategies such as topology optimization are becoming increasingly important in architecture and product design.� (AAD_ALGORITHMS-AIDED DESIGN - Arturo Tedeschi) TOPOLOGY IS THE STUDY OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN GEOMETRIC PARTS UNDERGOING DEFORMATION. THIS WORK INVESTIGATES THE POTENTIAL OF XESO (EXTENDED ESO) TO PERFORM TOPOLOGY OPTIMIZATION. ONCE THE INITIALLY OPTIMIZED DESIGN SPACE IS SET, MATERIAL IS ADDED AND REMOVED WHERE NECESSARY AND THE PROCESS IS ITERATED MANY TIMES. The process follows four main steps: 1. Definition of the initial data: geometry, supports and loads; 2. Creation of the finite element model; 3. Topological optimization; 4. Visualization and analysis of the results. The initial geometry definition requires a larger design space compared to the final result of the optimization process. In this work a 2D rectangle defines the design space where the optimal geometric configuration must be found. The postition of the support is in the middle of the design space (in red) and tends to emulate the perpendicular beam that supports the structure. The type of support in this case is fixed so displacements and rotations are fixed in each direction. Since this is a bi-dimensional problem it is unnecessary to support the displacements in the x axis and the rotations in the x and y axes. The load region is placed vertically downwards (in blue) representing the gravity load of the deck on top of the structure that wants to conceptualize a possible bridge cross section. The load intensity has no relationship with the result of the topological optimization. The component Topostruct 2D from Millipede (by Panagiotis Michalatos) represents the core of the plug in and is where calculations concerning the FEM analysis and the topological optimization are performed. Starting from a framework which remains unalterated during the optimization process, the XESO does not only remove the material with low stress levels, it also adds material where required. For instance, material is added at the restraints, and at the connections with the deck. This work represents just a first approach to topological optimization. For this reason it is higly recommended to face the problem under a theoretical point of view.
A
B
C
IMMATERIAL | PARAMETRIC STRATEGIES MEMBRANE BEHAVIOR “A unique chamber music hall specially designed to house solo performances of J. S. Bach works - enhancing the multiplicity of his music by using a single, continuous ribbon of fabric which continuously changes, stretches, compresses and moves around itself to cocoon both performers and audience within an intimate fluid space.” (J S Bach Chamber Music Hall - Zaha Hadid Architects) THIS WORK EXPLORES THE BEHAVIOR OF MEMBRANE MATERIALS THROUGH DIGITAL SIMULATION. TRADITIONAL FORM-FINDING TECHNIQUES INFACT, CAN NOW BE DIGITALLY FOUND USING PARTICLE-SPRING SYSTEMS THAT SIMULATE THE PHYSICAL BEHAVIOR OF DEFORMABLE BODIES. THE SECTION STUDIED IS A SIMPLIFIED MODEL EXTRACTED FROM THE CONTINUOUS RIBBON OF STRETCHED FABRIC MADE BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTS FOR THE BACH CHAMBER MUSIC HALL.
Particle-spring systems (PSS) have emerged as a powerful technique for form-finding. This work takes fully advantage of Kangaroo plug-in (by Daniel Piker), a physical based particle-spring system engine. The workflow consists in three consequential steps: discretization of NURBS-geometries in order to perform further analyses; determination of particle-spring system: lines and points are respectively springs and particles; and finally the dynamic simulation performed by Kangaroo Engine. Specifically, the model investigates the behavior of a membrane stretched on a truss support-structure composed of 2 horizontal free-form beams and variable profile arc-shape beams (A). The surface generated from this configuration is then converted into a mesh in order to collect all the points that will represent the particles of the system (B). For this simulation, all the arches behave like springs while vectors are applied downwards in Z direction to every particle of the system simulating the self-weight of the membrane. The points corresponding to the initial arches are treated as anchor points so they don’t move and represent the attachment to the structure. Once the system is defined the Kangaroo Engine performed the physical simulation. While the simulation is running, particles move until an equilibrium state is reached. After that, the mesh is further processed and subdivided through the Catmull–Clark algorithm in order to get a smoother surface. The final result is shown in figure C.
Enpowered by:
What is next?