The Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) and the Institute for Textile and Fiber Technologies (ITFT) at the University of Stuttgart have launched the ITECH Research Demonstrator 2018-19. The project aims to investigate large-scale compliant architecture.
Developed within the framework of the ITECH Master of Science Programme, the pavilion was designed and realized by students and researchers, supported by a multi-disciplinary team of architects, engineers, biologists, and paleontologists. Inspired by the folding mechanisms of the wings of the Ladybug, the demonstrator is composed of two adaptive folding elements made of carbon and glass-fiber-reinforced plastic, each weighing at 23 kg, with a width of 1.70 m and a height of 3.00 m or 2.50 m.
The project is part of a successful series of research showcasing the potential of computational design, simulation and fabrication processes in bio-inspired architecture. Interactive and user-controlled adaptation is achieved through an interactive control system. The ITECH Research Demonstrator 2018-19 highlights the possibilities of achieving an adaptive architectural scale structure. It also investigates the potentiality of direct interaction between the built environment and its inhabitants.
This system is only possible due to the integration of computational design, simulation and fabrication process. It also accentuates the innovative potential of interdisciplinary research and teaching. The major key themes explored in the ITECH research demonstrator 2018-19 are adaptive architecture, biomimetic investigation, integrative digital design model, fabrication, material gradient, and stiffening, integrated actuation, reconfiguration, control, and interaction.
News Via ICD.
