journal week 3

“The structure is more than just a visually attractive piece of urban furniture, however.

Used for scientific research, it is unrivalled in its innovative features and the manner in which it links various disciplines.� -Detail magazine 22.03.2012

In 2010, the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) designed and constructed a temporary research pavilion. The innovative structure demonstrates the latest developments in material-oriented computational design, simulation, and production processes in architecture. The result is a bending-active structure made entirely of extremely thin, elastically-bent plywood strips.

The computational design model is based on embedding the relevant material behavioral features in parametric principles.

These parametric dependencies were defined through a large number of physical experiments focusing on the measurement of deflections of elastically bent thin plywood strips. Based on 6400 lines of code one integral computational process derives all relevant geometric information and directly outputs the data required for both the structural analysis model and the manufacturing with a 6-axis industrial robot.

The structural analysis model forms the foundation for all further steps: the structural calculations in the process of “coiling up” the flat strips by means of finite element analysis (FEA), and the robotic production of the elements and their exact positioning on site.

FEA simulation of the pavilion (Illustration: Julian Lienhard, 2010) “Design computation provides the possibilities of integrating physical properties and material behaviour as generative drivers in the architectural design process.Thus architectural form, material formation and structural performance can be considered synchronously.”

- Special issue: Programming Cultures, Architectural Design