The institute for computational design (ICD) and the institute of building structures and structural design (ITKE) continue their series of research pavilions with the 2014-15 edition at the university of stuttgart. the design and building method is based on the nest construction of the water spider — a species which spends most of its life underwater, for which it constructs a reinforced air bubble to survive.
initially, the spider builds a horizontal sheet web, under which the air bubble is placed, finally sequentially reinforcing it by laying a hierarchical arrangement of fibers from within. the result is a safe and stable habitat that can withstand harsh natural elements. this natural production process shows how adaptive fabrication strategies can be utilized to create efficient fiber-reinforced structures. for the ICD/ITKE research pavilion 2014-15, the team examined this construction process, analyzing, abstracting and transferring the behavioral patterns into a technological fabrication process. …You can follow on http://icd.uni-stuttgart.de/?p=12965, via (designboom.com)
Institute for Computational Design – Prof. Achim Menges
Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design – Prof. Jan Knippers
