DYNAMICS IN EXTREME ENVIRONMENTS

ETH CAAD and Chalmers Faculty: Manuel Kretzer, Stig Anton Nielsen

IAAC Faculty: Areti Markopoulou

IAAC Assistants: Alexandre Dubor, Carlos Bausa

External Guest: Raul Nieves, Prototipolab

In collaboration with: MaterFad

In traditional architecture, a change in a material’s property, such as its volume or elasticity, was generally seen as a potential problem affecting the performance of built structures. Static planar surfaces related with stability or even durability have long dominated the architectural vision. When, as a consequence to the introduction of domotics, design disciplines started to explore kinetic and dynamic performances to increase efficiency, this was done following mere rules of mechanical actuators and heavy motor or servo-based systems plugged-in in whichever material surface.

Today, progress in novel and advanced materials coming from disciplines such as medicine or aerospace engineering raise the challenge of adaptation following smart, active or reactive materials that are able to alter their properties reacting to external stimuli. Changes in state, colour, and volume take place with no need of any computing device or mechanical actuator; rather the material itself has all these functions programmed into its persistence on a molecular scale.

In parallel, the 21st century challenges related with global warming, i.e. global temperatures that rise and cause climate change and global urbanization, raise new questions regarding our way of building and inhabiting. Architecture, will have to respond to extreme weather conditions, especially the rise of temperature in densely urbanized areas and smart materials will play a critical role in the architectural process of dealing with the current challenges of the global context.

Which architectural systems can be dynamic and react to environmental conditions such as temperature shifts?

Can buildings and cities perform as environmentally integrated living organisms?

How can architecture remember and learn from previous experiences, therefore evolving with embedded intelligence?

The workshop introduced students to a series of “smart materials” such as polymorph plastics, shape memory polymers, bioplastics, thermochromic pigments, temperature-sensitive and electroconductive materials for 3d printing.

The project proposals explored active materials and developed dynamic architectural proposals for extreme environmental conditions where temperatures in urbanized areas surpass 70 or 80 degrees Celsius. Such extreme temperatures are able to activate a series of smart materials that can change state when heated in high temperatures.

Project 1

Project Name: Thermoteam

Students: Alina Kvirkveliya, Ji Won Jun, Josep Alcover, Jose Algeciras, Matteo Silverio, Yoko Gotoh

Project 2

Project 3

Project Name: Thermoluminescence

Students: Nina Jotanoivc, Panagiota Sarantinoudi, Farah Alayeli, Apostolos Apostolinas, Lubna Alayeli, Ceren Temel

Project 4

Project 5

In collaboration with: 

There is a trend in architecture and structural engineering towards more and more lightweight structures, as such structures are not only elegant but also minimizing the use of material. They are sustainable in the true sense. An inherent feature of lightweight structures is their tendency to be lively. Numerous exciting and breath taking structures such as membrane roofs, cable net structures and cable-supported footbridges have been built and they all require additional engineering efforts, regarding dynamics. Early lightweight footbridges have caused comfort problems for the users. Today engineers have learnt their lessons from several disasters and have included “dynamics” in the curriculum of engineering students. At our chair at the Technical University Berlin (TU Berlin) it has become an important research aspect. Beyond passive tuned mass dampers, investigation on semi-active vibration control will enable us to go beyond present limits towards more lightweight and elegant, more sustainable structures.

Tuesday 29th of October 2013

Arndt Goldack

Lecture: Dynamic Lightweight Structures
@ 19.30, IAAC Auditorium
Open to the Public

Dr.-Ing. Arndt Goldack  was born in 1969 in Stuttgart, Germany. In 1996 he graduated in civil and structural engineering at the University of Stuttgart, and in 2004 Awarded Doctorate (Dr.-Ing.), Thesis “Structural behavior and Bracing of High Rise Tubes for Solar Updraft Towers”.

From 1996 to 2003 he was a Research assistant at the Institute for Structural Design with Prof. Jörg Schlaich and Prof. Werner Sobek, University of Stuttgart.

In 2003 he then commenced as Structural Engineer with schlaich bergermann und partner, Berlin, Stuttgart, until 2011. During this time he contributed to projects in China, Germany, India, Spain, USA:

- Stress ribbon bridge “Slinky springs to fame”, Oberhausen

- Membrane roof for Estadio Madrid La Peineta

- Gänsebachtal Bridge: Integral Bridge for High Speed Trains, length 1001m

- Cable Stayed Bridge crossing Yamuna River in New Delhi, India: span 250m

- Independent Review of the Second Vivekananda Bridge in Kolkata, extradosed bridge

- Lufthansa A380 Service Hall in Frankfurt

- Dynamic design of almost all footbridges by sbp

- Research Project: Design of Lightweight Footbridges for Human Induced Vibrations, Goldack et. al., JRC-ECCS 2009 in cooperation with University of Porto, TU Delft and RWTH Aachen.

Since July 2011 he has been a Researcher at the Chair of Conceptual and Structural Design, TU Berlin, studying the dynamics of bridges, pedestrian induced vibration, experimental modal analysis, lightweight structures, lightweight concrete, structural control.