All of these experimentation have been shown on the 22nd of May at the final presentations of the seminar “lightweight structures 1:1″ at IAAC.

The aim of the seminar, led by Silvia Brandi and Rodrigo Rubio, with the collaboration of Pepe Ballestero (ETSAM Prototipolab) and Maria Kupstova, was to build four lightweight structures using structural fabric, within the format of an intensive workshop.

For the development of the project the course counted on the partnership of Serge Ferrari company, which provided the high-performance fabric Stamisol FT 371-3048 and Stamisol FT 381-3128.

The seminar has been developed in two sessions of three days each: in the first one four groups have been formed around four research topics: tensegrity structures, tensile structures, pure tension structures and fibrous structures.

During the first phase each group developed a project proposal and went trough some material testing and prototyping. During the second phase the construction of the four pavilions has been carried out in IAAC.

At the final presentation the students presented their projects to the jury board, formed by Ramon Sastre, tensile structure expert by ETSAV-UPC, Carmelo Zappulla, IAAC Faculty and principal of External Reference, Areti Markopoulou, MAA Director, together with the IAAC Alumni and Staff Mathilde Marengo, Dori Sadan and Moe Beagle.

The idea was to have a portable and foldable structure that when folding in place become a cover for the pelgrims for the Santiago de Compostela Road.
It could be folded into to a single component size for an easy transportation.
Our based was a structure made with two layers of fabric and one interior layer of cardboard for support using the fabric as joints and tensors to secure it in place.
From this basic structure we set two main goals:
- to reduce the weight of the structure
- keep using the fabric as the joints

Test 1:
We decided to lighten the structure by making holes in the interior pieces, that way we could reduce the amount of material in half, but keeping the structural performance the same. We built a small scale prototype with fabric and plywood and the test was satisfactory.

Test 2:
Thinking in the big scale prototype we decided to reduce the size of the triangles, filling one half with plywood and keeping the other with just fabric. We also build a small scale prototype that was also working well.

Test 3:
We decided to merge the idea of the previous tests and replace the wood triangles into wooden sticks to keep the same rigidity, keeping the fabric as the joints and adding the tensors for holding it in place. We decided to split the triangles in two as test 2 to add more support to the structure. We build a small prototype of just one component to test the joints.

Test 4:
For our final test before building the prototype, we decided to test the fabric joints, to make sure they will hold the structure. Beside putting fabric we decided to used plastic straps to hold the fabric in place.

Final Result:
Building big scale was a big  challenge for us. The few problems we faced were that we couldn’t test the structure until complited. The structure didn’t hold in place even with the tensils fixed. The legs of the structure weren’t rigid enough to hold the upper part and it collapsed.

Conclusions:
For further research we will change the length of the sticks in the support legs of the structure. It’s needed cause they bend due the weight of the fabric and structure itself.
Instead of having two separated wood bars we will replace it with a single bar maybe enlarging the diameter.

The joints were performance well in a matter of holding the bars in place but we need to calculate the exact spaced needed to achieve the specific folding degree that we need and no more
than that.
Link to Video:

The Nubular lightweight structure is an exploration into an injection-based architecture. A homogenous building material, in this case a perforated PVC skin, is used to create tubes of custom lengths and angles, which are then filled with one’s material of choice depending on the chosen tube’s position within the overall structure. Given that the material filling is a key parameter in the behaviour of the elements, several tests were carried out to identify the optimal fillings and member lengths to avoid buckling. It was decided to fill the bottom most members with a soil and sawdust combination while the top is composed of lighter foam balls. Each tube length is split into 3 with a maximum part length of around 800mm and allowing for 50mm flat connection gaps in between and on the ends.

The overall shape was designed in Grasshopper using the Hoopsnake plugin. A original tetrahedron shape is drawn and hence follows the path of an arched curve, turning and repositioning itself in the process from the start of the path to the end. After this process, the geometry was manually pulled to the ground plane and specific 3-piece curves were extracted and drawn to ensure they stay under the 800mm limit. Each of these curves was separated as a layer and with lengths fed into another definition to directly produce laser cut files which included labels and welding line engravings.

The fabrication process took about 3 full days. 78 custom lengths were laser cut, welded, filled, and holed at the junctions for connections with zip-ties. Construction took around 10 hours, as we constantly referred to the digital model to identify exact angles and connections of each length to the next. Ultimately the structure was a success and we learned a lot about the structural capabilities during the construction process. In parts where our soil/sawdust combination was weaker or poorly packed we noticed much more buckling, while the foam was stable for the most part given its very low weight. Future constructions could benefit from digital structural analyses to clearly identify weight/strength ratios of different materials in different locations of the structure and to remove redundant members while adding ones where needed most. The implications for such architectural systems are vast, however; as the tube skin can accommodate for any desired material injection, dependant on one’s exact design, site, and structural needs.

Link to fabrication / construction process video!

Seeds are planted in the lower layers, while moss can also be grown from the soil

material / weight distribution

Building process. Click to animate GIF!

The Geo-Sphere is based around the concept of tension.

Whilst experimenting with the material, we tested the most efficient ways to contently keep it in tension.

By creating a strong support system, we experimented with the positioning of the supports that would continuously stretch and hold the material. The purpose of the design was to allow the participants to crawl in and out of the dome through intersecting tunnels. The external sphere also allows the dome to constantly be moved and rolled around.

Not only can the structure be placed in any setting, but the perspective from the tunnels is constantly altering. In order to ensure structural stability, the rings where divided, laser cut and slotted back together. Furthermore, each ring contains three layers of wood in order to support the weight of the material. Using Kangaroo, we divided the tunnels into stripes, which we later sowed back together.

The material was then attached to the rings through layers of cable ties. By choosing your preferred passageway, the Geo-Sphere provides a new way to lounge.

The Tensegrity Lego is made of collective tensegrity modules to achieve an overall counterbalanced and self standing structure.

The structure of each module is achieved by a piece of fabric cut according to a specific geometry generated from Kangaroo, holding four poles along its four edges and eventually creating curvatures between each set of diagonal corners.

The product of a balanced tension of compression results on modules that are structural and flexible at the same time.

The combination of 15 modules creates a versatile structure that can be used according to the users’ imagination.

Testing with Prototype

the module

structural behaviour of the module 1:1

trying different combination of the modules

the lego prototype

1:1 Construction Process

Video of the Construction

The Tensegrity Lego

The aim of the Seminar is to realize lightweight spatial installations (embedding textile materials) that are demountable, digitally fabricated, and eventually performative.

The students have formed 4 different groups, each one working on a different structural prototype implementation. In these first 3 days of the seminar each group worked their concept design, testing the structural capacities through the production of small scale prototypes.

The course counts on the collaboration of the company SERGE FERRARI, an international producer of flexible composite materials and membranes of high performances for architecture, who will provide the material for the construction.

SILVIA BRANDI

She studied architecture at Politecnico di Milano and ETSAB (Barcelona). In 2004 she graduated with honours with a thesis about transformation of Alps landscape (Paolo Aldeghieri Award) and she wins a scholarship to develop a urban project at POSTECH University in South Korea. She works in Milan with Stefano Boeri and from 2006 she is settled in Barcelona where she is part of IAAC staff as responsible of the publication Self-Sufficient Housing, ed. ACTAR – IAAC (2006). From 2006 she works with Josep Miàs in the international architectural firm MiAS Architects as Head Architect. She has lead several project most notably new iGuzzini Headquarters in Barcelona (Archdaily Building of the year and WAF2012 Shortlisted). She has been co-editor of various publications, such as the monographic book about iGuzzini building ed. ACTAR Birkhauser, and has cured exhibitions about MiAS Architects work. Since 2006 she also collaborates with Josep Miàs in architecture academicals courses at ETSAB (Barcelona) and at UNISS (Sassari) and she is invited from various international Institutions to give lectures about MiAS Architects works. From 2012 she is back to IAAC as Academic Coordinator, Tutor of the seminar of Experimental Structures, Tutor of the Open Thesis Fabrication Course.

RODRIGO RUBIO

Architect at Escuela Politécnica de Madrid (ETSAM), first prize at the Selfsufficient Building International Contest, and master degree in Advanced Architecture in 2006. Since then, Rodrigo Rubio has been leading several research  projects at IAAC  such as the Albacete Effect, the Hyperhabitat Venice Bienale, or the Solar Decathlon Europe FabLabHouse. He founded with Daniel Ibáñez the MaRGeN architectural office at Madrid in 2005, inside the FreshMadrid platform, focused on landscape and selfsufficiency issues and awarded with several prizes at national and international competitions. He is Faculty at IAAC and he has been responsible of the design and construction of the IAAC Endesa Pavilion. He is currently in charge of the FAB10 Pavilion, within the FAB10 Exhibition.

In collaboration with MARIA KUPTSOVA.

Fabric sponsored by FERRARI