A stunning Catalan free-form vault has been designed and build by students during a one week workshop organised by Prof. Deplazes and Prof. Block from ETH Zurich. RhinoVAULT has been used for the design of the complex compression-only shape. For details, visit the homepage of the BLOCK Research Group.
Category: installation
Adaptive Construction: A timber tensile roof that adapts to loads
Structures have always been designed for an exact maximum stress; this type of stress, however, generally only occurs very rarely and then only for a short period. As a result a large part of the building materials used today therefore serves these extremely seldom peak loads and is effectively seldom used.
The aim of ultra lightweight structures developed at the University of Stuttgart is therefore to achieve a drastic saving of materials and a better reaction to dynamic loads through an active manipulation of the structure. In the case of the Stuttgart wooden shell this manipulation is achieved through hydraulic drives: these drives rest on the points of support of the shell and generate movements that compensate in a specific way for deformations and material stresses caused by wind, snow and other loads.
Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK) and Institute for System Dynamics (ISYS) of the University of Stuttgart in cooperation with Bosch Rexroth have realised an adaptive structure on a large scale for the first time. The shell made of wood is supported at four points. Three of these points can be moved individually by hydraulic cylinders and freely positioned in space. Sensors record the load status at numerous points on the structure. Targeted movements of the points of support counteract variable loads (for example through snow or wind) and thus reduce deformations and material stresses. Compared to conventional, passive structures this considerably reduces the use of materials for the shell. The load balancing takes place through a Rexroth control system which was especially developed for hydraulic drives. The core task of the control system is to implement the complex hydraulic control tasks of the shell structure. In this way the supporting structure can react to a change in the load status within milliseconds.An active vibration dampening and the adaptation to changing loads can be applied in many areas of construction, for example in stadium roofs, in high-rise buildings, in wide-spanning façade constructions or in bridges. The results of the research project at the University of Stuttgart thus enable a completely new construction method which not only saves resources but at the same time also considerably increases the performance of supporting structures. The active dampening of dynamic loads (for example from the effects of wind, earthquake or explosions) namely enables not only a drastic reduction in weight but furthermore also reduces material fatigue and damage to the structure.
In order to be able to actively compensate loads and vibrations, these influencing factors initially have to be precisely recorded resp. predicted; a second step would be to calculate the necessary counter-movements in real time (and likewise promptly to implement them). Researchers from the University of Stuttgart developed simulation models for this purpose, enabling an exact prediction of the behaviour of the structure. The material stress as well as the vibration behaviour under static and dynamic exposure is thereby taken into account. These simulation models serve as a basis for the development of control concepts which calculate the necessary counter movements on load and vibration compensation depending on the recorded measured values. These movements are then precisely implemented through the hydraulics.
Read more about it Here and Here
Project participants:
Institute for Lightweight Structures and Conceptual Design (ILEK), University of Stuttgart
Prof. Werner Sobek, Stefan Neuhäuser, Christoph Witte, Dr. Walter Haase
Institute for System Dynamics (ISYS), University of Stuttgart
Prof. Oliver Sawodny, Martin Weickgenannt, Dr. Eckhard Arnold
Bosch Rexroth AG, Lohr a. Main
Dr. Johannes Grobe, André Fella
Contacts:
Stefan Neuhäuser: Tel.: 0711 685-63705,
Martin Weickgenannt: Tel.: 0711 685-66960,
André Fella: Tel.: 09352 18-1010,
‘Honey Scape’ Landscape Pavilion
Architects: Gonçalo Castro Henriques, X-REF Architectural Research & Development
Location: Ponte de Lima, Portugal
Client: Municipality of Ponte de Lima
Partners: X-REF, BÖ01 project management, Dagol Lda
Collaboration: Paulo Teodósio, Pedro Torres e Pedro Negrão (MergeLab), Helder Carvalho
Project Area: 280 sqm
Project Completion: 2012
Honey Scape is a dreamy temporary pavilion made of interlocking hexagonal sheets (or combs) of alveolar polycarbonate that create a dazzling display of light and shadow. “The combs act in part as the voussoirs of a parabolic arc supporting each other,” the designers explained. This allows them to “adopt a configuration of a double curvature surface… and adjust its size to their relative position in the structure.”
The components were digitally fabricated and constructed on site using metal connectors and a cable system. The resulting low-tech, 280 square meter pavilion commissioned by the municipality of Ponte de Lima and completed earlier this year heralds a new type of bio-tech art. Its main purpose, in addition to introducing a new aesthetic into the public realm, is to establish ultimate synergy between people and the built and natural environment.
Golden Honey Scape Pavilion Mimics a Giant Honeycomb in Portugal Inhabitat – Sustainable Design Innovation, Eco Architecture, Green Building A low-tech construction system was developed to build this complex structure. The system was complemented with metal connectors and a cable system on site. As it happens in the hives, this system required cooperative work to be assembled and became a reality. Networking and self-organization, which have inspired artificial intelligence, also inspired this solution. It offers bio-tech-art for a symbiosis between human and nature.
The installation avoids mimicking or confronting the landscape, rather seeking a man, nature and technology synergy. The structure recreates the honeycomb rules adapting to a lightweight double-curved surface in alveolar polycarbonate. The hexagonal geometry of the honeycomb is set according to three references – the parabolic arch, the double curved surfaces and the process of material adaptation. So the combs act in part as the voussoirs of a parabolic arc supporting each other, adopting a configuration of a double curvature surface (hyperbolic paraboloid), and adjusting its size to their relative position in the structure. The combs are larger at the base, decreasing in size and height towards the top of the structure. The generation and manufacture of the components relied on the use of scripting and digital fabrication.Built after winning an international landscape competition at Ponte Lima, Portugal, Honey Scape is temporary landscape pavilion by Gonçalo Castro Henriques of X-REF. This installation intends to shelter the visitor, captivating him by a dream-like atmosphere with aromatic plants. This atmosphere is defined by a light and transparent structure, based on a honeycomb, creating a dynamic of light and color throughout the day. More images and architects’ description after the break.
© Alexandre Delmar / JF Fotografia
Coca Cola Beatbox Pavillion
Architects: Pernilla & Asif
Location: London, UK
Design Team: Asif Khan, Pernilla Ohrstedt
Project Year: 2012
Photographs: Hufton, Crow
The Coca-Cola Beatbox, designed by Asif Khan and Pernilla Ohrstedt is an experimental fusion? of architecture, sport, music and technology that creates a stunning sensory experience. The visionary structure acts as a musical instrument, allowing visitors to remix Mark Ronson and Katy B’s ‘Move to the Beat’ Coca-Cola anthem ‘Anywhere in the World’ – as they pass through the building.
The Coca-Cola Beatbox forms part of Coca-Cola’s Future Flames campaign which aims to shine a spotlight on Britain’s brightest stars and inspire other young people to pursue their passions.
© Hufton & Crow
Coca-Cola has spent two years working with partners including The Architecture Foundation, the Royal College of Art and experimental theatre company London Quest. Together, these organisations have helped Coca-Cola bring together the best in emerging talent across design, performance and technology as part of its commitment to using its sponsorship to shine a light on inspirational young people – its Future Flames. The result is a pavilion that is created by, embodies and celebrates the passions of thousands of Coca-Cola Future Flames who make a positive contribution to their local communities every day.
© Hufton & Crow
Emerging London-based architecture collaborators Asif Khan, 32, and Pernilla Ohrstedt, 31, were given creative control by Coca-Cola following a formal commissioning process administered by The Architecture Foundation. The dynamic pair have designed a pavilion that aims to connect young people to the Games by bringing together their passions for music and sport. Inspired by Coca-Cola’s global platform for London 2012 – Move to the Beat – the pavilion has been designed to function just like a musical instrument.
© Hufton & Crow
Its giant crystalline facade structure is made up of over 200 red and white inflated ETFE cushions, each gravity-defying panel connected like a house of cards. Integrated within these panels is proprietary audio, illumination and interactive sensor technology, enabling the architecture to be embedded with rhythmical sport sounds from GRAMMY award winning Mark Ronson and Mercury Prize nominee Katy B’s Coca-Cola anthem ‘Anywhere in the world’ for London 2012. His recordings from Olympic athletes’ heartbeats, shoes squeaking, arrows hitting a target, amongst many others, are triggered, played and musically remixed by an estimated 200,000 visitors’ gestures and proximity as they ascend the external spiral ramp on a 200m journey to the pavilion’s rooftop where they will enjoy spectacular views of the Olympic Park. The ramp then plunges down into the heart of the pavilion which will feature an interactive light installation created by Jason Bruges Studio.
© Hufton & Crow
Jason Bruge Studio’s Aerial Dynamics installation is a living, breathing light show that has been designed to emulate the effervescent energy released when a bottle of Coca-Cola is served and shared. 180 bespoke mechatronic ‘bubbles’ glow rhythmically in time with Mark Ronson’s track. Controlled with individual code, each bubble has eight polypropylene blades that fold intricately in on themselves. Special sensors embedded in the three ‘cheers in celebration’ kiosks at the base of the Beatbox detect when Coca-Cola bottles are clinked together, triggering the blades and bubbles to glow with red and white LED lighting. These light patterns become increasingly intricate as the number of participants grow.
Now that is a music box we’d like to have 😀
Olympic Shooting Range – Temporary
With the London Summer Olympic Games rapidly approaching, there has been much talk about either the games are in fact economically good for a city. At its best, hosting an Olympics can help revitalize a city, and at its worst, playing host can leave the host-country drowning in debt.
There are a lot of reasons for this, but one is simply the cost of building new venues, all with a price tag to match their state-of-the-art design. When the athletes and fans pack up and go, the new stadiums and event-specific venues–for example, the Athens Olympics had a venue just for taekwondo– are often left empty, and unused far before the bill is settled.
In London, there has been a little of everything, from big name high-priced venues to littler, temporary structures. But how do you make a temporary building that still has an architectural impact? Perhaps in an effort to answer this question, London and Berlin-based Magma architecture came up with a design for the Olympic Shooting Gallery that could be dismantled, but that you won’t soon forget.
The shooting galleries for the London 2012 Olympic games are covered in spots that look the suckers of an octopus’ tentacles.
Designed by Magma Architecture of London and Berlin, the Olympic Shooting Venue comprises three PVC tents that have been erected at London’s historic Royal Artillery Barracks in Woolwich.
The extruded red, blue and pink circles draw ventilation inside each of the venues and also create tension nodes for the steel structure beneath the white skin.
Some natural light permeates this PVC membrane, while entrances are contained inside all the spots that meet the ground.
As the structures are only temporary, they will be dismantled immediately after the Olympics and reassembled in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
See all the permanent Olympic buildings in our recent slideshow feature, including the aquatics centre by Zaha Hadid and the velodrome by Hopkins Architects.
Photography is by J.L. Diehl unless otherwise stated.
The text below is from Magma Architecture:
?London Shooting Venue
The London Shooting Venue will accommodate the events in 10, 25 and 50 m Sport Shooting at the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the southeast London district of Woolwich.
The first Gold Medal of the London Olympic Games will be awarded at the venue for Women’s 10 m Air Pistol on the 28th July 2012. After the event the three temporary and mobile buildings will be dismantled and rebuilt in Glasgow for the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Shooting is a sport in which the results and progress of the competition are hardly visible to the eye of the spectator.
The design of the shooting venue was driven by the desire to evoke an experience of flow and precision inherent in the shooting sport through the dynamically curving space.
All three ranges were configured in a crisp, white double curved membrane façade studded with vibrantly colored openings.
As well as animating the façade these dots operate as tensioning nodes.
The 18.000 m2 of phthalate-free pvc membrane functions best in this stretched format as it prevents the façade from flapping in the windt.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The openings also act as ventilation intake and doorways at ground level.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The fresh and light appearance of the buildings enhances the festive and celebrative character of the Olympic event.
With the buildings being dismantled after the event an additional aim was to create a remarkable design which will be remembered by visitors and the local community thereby leaving a mental imprint the Olympic of shooting sport competition in Woolwich.
The shooting venue is not situated in the Olympic Park, but has its own location in Woolwich on the grounds of the historic Royal Artillery Barracks.
Photograph by Steve Bates
It is estimated that more than 104.000 spectators will watch the competitions.
Photograph by Steve Bates
The three buildings comprise 3.800 seats divided between two partially enclosed ranges for the 25 and 10/50 m qualifying rounds and a fully enclosed finals range. Together they form a campus on the green field.
Photograph by Steve Bates
Their up to 107 m long facades refer to the structured length of the Royal Artillery Barracks building, but have their own contemporary architectural expression.
Guided by the high requirements from the client, the Olympic Delivery Authority, sustainability was a key factor in shaping the design. All materials will be reused or recycled.
All three of the venues are fully mobile, every joint has been designed so it can be reassembled; and no composite materials or adhesives were used. In addition, the semitransparent facades on two of the three ranges reduce the need for artificial lighting and the ventilation is fully natural.
The tensioning detail was achieved through an efficient configuration of modular steel components commonly used in temporary buildings market. The double-curvature geometry is a result of the optimal use of the membrane material, which magma architecture has been experimenting with for a number of years, amongst others in the award winning head in I im kopf exhibition at the Berlinische Galerie in Germany.
Magma archtitecture was founded in 2003 by the architect Martin Ostermann and the exhibition designer Lena Kleinheinz. Central to our work is the use of complex geometric modeling as a way of creating a more spatially dynamic vocabulary. This is essential to better articulate and reflect the heterogenieity of our cities and global culture.
We seek to be part of a new paradigm within architecture – one that is expressionistic, rooted in non-linear form-making and facilitated by new materiality and cutting edge technologies.
SPRING CHALLENGE 2012
The IoA SPRING CHALLENGE event was an international design workshop intended for architecture students to explore integrated digital design and fabrication tools.Architectural Design is taught at this university as an integrated, multidisciplinary process. Following this tradition, the design process was enriched with structural testing of parametric models in Karamba, a structural analysis plugin for Grasshopper. The handling of virtual simulation methods in the fields of parametric and digital production was the primary focus of the workshop. This week long intense workshop did result in a full scale built structure.
Format & Output
The Challenge Program was organized as a six day event with 22 international students and 6 tutors. Introduction to Rhino/Grasshopper/Karamba was followed by project design development and daily reviews of student group projects which entered into a competition mode. The selected project was fabricated and assembled as a group effort. The event closed with an exhibition and presentation with guests. The output was a parametrically designed and digitally produced human scale structure fabricated out of corrugated cardboard.We’d Wish such workshops were organized here in India too..
Students: Shota Tsikoliya, Lenka Januskova, Clemens Conditt, Tu?gen Kukul, Maria Smigielska, Ceren Yönetim, Maciej Chmara, Oana Bogatan, Djordje Stanojevic, Rene Meszarits, Andreas Quast, Marco Pizzichemi, Zhenyu Yan, Ji?í Vítek, Johanna Jõekalda, Raouf M. Abdelnabi, Özlem Altun, Tadeas Klaban, Abraham Fung, Artur Staškevitš, Benjamin Ennenmoser, Roberto Naboni
Instructors: Andrei Gheorghe, Bence Pap, Trevor Pat, Irina Bogdan, Clemens Preisinger, Moritz Heimrath
Location: University of Applied Arts, Vienna, Austria
Status: Student Workshop
Year: Spring 2012
A Giant ball of Gas in Washington DC.. hey what’s new??
Even though the proposed bubble at the Hirshhorn Museum hasn’t yet inflated yet (latest plans for inflation are October 2012) it has won a progressive architecture award from the Architect, the magazine of the American Institute of Architects. The controversial bubble, designed by New York firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro, earned praise from the magazine for its playful and vibrant nature.
Says the magazine:
“Both installation and building, the air-filled structure challenges long-standing perceptions of what a museum means as a public space, how it encourages pluralistic audiences, and what it is able to exhibit. Its presence underscores a paradigm shift at the Hirshhorn: The museum is growing in importance as a place for dialogue and education extending beyond the traditional art world.”
In case you missed the plans of the bubble, it will be an inflatable membrane, squeezing into the museum courtyard and transforming it into an auditorium, cafe, and meeting place. Plans are to erect the bubble for one month in the spring and fall.The magazine also displays some new renderings of the bubble, showing more details of the structure (if you can call it that).
Liz Diller, founding principle of Diller, Scofidio + Renfro, shared the story of creating the pneumatic addition to the Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, DC. Commonly known as the “Bubble”, the inflatable event space is planned for the cylindrical courtyard of the National Mall’s modernist museum that was originally designed by Gordon Bunshaft in 1974. The first inflation of the “Bubble” is expected to take place at the end of 2013.
Below is a TED talk by Diller about the balloon, height, perceptions etc etc.. would be fun to see how they stabilize the balloon in winds…
The thin translucent membrane will fill the center of the Gordon Bunshaft building. Its sky blue tone will be darkest at the top and it will become more and more transparent toward the bottom floors so visitors can enjoy the sensation of looking up and practically being outside. Cable rigs compressing various areas of the bubble as it climbs up and over the museum ceiling give it a unique doughy look in stark contrast to the hard angular building.
The main floor of the Hirshhorn’s Bunshaft building includes 14,000 square feet of outdoor and courtyard space. The bubble will be erected during chillier seasons, allowing visitors to enjoy the open spaces year round with fun cushy seats scattered throughout, mimicking the softness of the walls. A giant water tube around the bottom of the bubble weighs the massive inflatable structure down and also acts as a bouncy bench.
The temporary inflatable space will also feature a make-shift auditorium that will seat up to 1,000 people for art films, events, lectures, and even site-specific installations. The Hirshhorn Bubble project has been in the works for almost two years and is expected to take form in the winter of 2012.