Our first prototype made from wood clearly showed us that active bending with only one element is hard to do.

So we combined the first element with a second element, where both are bended true interlocking with each other providing stress with the structure. The elements interlock in four points providing five distances we could play with.

In Karamba we compared three different sections to find witch positions are optimal for a structural stair.

From the numbers generated by the software it was clear that the first section performed better than the others.

Making the model using the section positions showed us that in fact the structure was performing better. However there was still something missing.

Using galapagos we tried to find the further best geometry but the result was unsuccessful, so we come back to the first result.

After the beam analysis we found the better geometry for the row support, in order to reduce the My.

Connecting the sides of the steps with rope provided the missing overall stability of the system.

Conclusion: Going back and forth from physical model to digital model showed us the benefits of using both instead of just one for the optimization of a structure. Combining the strong sides of both methods is the wright way.

We decided to mix both behaviours of the material, bending and interlocking theme into each other. We did our first attempt by using paper to see the reaction of the component working in two directions and also being to see how by inerlocking each other can also react in two behaviours.

 Conceptually we intersect to lines , and then like the element of joint we developed from linear to an arch having the result of the interlocking and bending. This intersection of both arches works both in compression and in tension.

 What we want to achieve at the end is a structure, that can be used as a facade or also try to see this behaviour in a large scale.