ICD / ITKE Research Pavilion
ICD/ITKE RESEARCH PAVILION 2011
University Stuttgart
Development and Realisation
Date of completion
August 2011
Surface 72 m
Volume 200 m
Material 275 m birch plywood 6.5 mm sheets
Team
Peter Brachat, Benjamin Busch, Solmaz Fahimian, Christin Gegenheimer, Nicola Haberbosch, Elias Kästle, Oliver David Krieg, Yong Sung Kwon, Boyan Mihaylov
Professors
ICD Prof. Achim Menges
ITKE Prof. Jan Knippers
Prizes
Holzbaupreis Baden-Württemberg 2012, special award ‚Naturpark Südschwarzwald‘, ‚Naturparke Baden-Württemberg‘ and ‚Innovation‘
Stuttgarter Leichtbaupreis 2011
International Design Award 2011, Second Prize
Photos
ICD/ITKE University Stuttgart
In summer 2011 students at the University of Stuttgart, together with the Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Insitute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) have realised a temporary, bionic research pavilion made of wood.
The project explores the architectural transfer of biological principles of the sea urchin‘s plate skeleton morphology by means of novel computer-based design and simulation methods, along with computer-controlled manufacturing methods for its building implementation.
BIOLOGICAL SYSTEM
The focus was set on the development of a modular system which allows a high degree of adaptability and performance due to the geometric differentiation of its plate components and robotically fabricated finger joints.
During the analysis of different biological structures, the plate skeleton morphology of the sand dollar, a sub-species of the sea urchin (Echinoidea), became of particular interest and subsequently provided the basic principles of the bionic structure that was realized.
The skeletal shell of the sand dollar is a modular system of polygonal plates, which are linked together at the edges by finger-like calcite protrusions.
High load bearing capacity is achieved by the particular geometric arrangement of the plates and their joining systems.
MORPHOLOGY TRANSFER
Following the analysis of the sand dollar, the morphology of its plate structure was integrated in the design of a pavilion.
Three plate edges always meet together at just one point, a principle which enables the transmission of normal and shear forces but no bending moments between the joints, thus resulting in a bending bearing but yet deformable structure. This constraint meant the pavilion could only be built out of 6.5 mm thin sheets of plywood.
ROBOTIC PRODUCTION
The plates and finger joints of each cell were produced with the university‘s robotic fabrication system. More than 850 geometrically different components, as well as more than 100,000 finger joints freely arranged in space were produced.