Читать книгу Rethinking Prototyping - Группа авторов - Страница 82

Matthias Rippmann and Philippe Block

Abstract This paper introduces a new typology of structurally efficient, funnel-shaped shells for light and open architectural applications. We discuss a novel approach for structural form-finding of funicular shell shapes by defining free boundaries that are balanced by continuous tension rings. Existing funnel-shaped structures illustrate the compelling possibilities for design variation in which vertical and horizontal structural elements transition smoothly, creating exciting spatial configurations. Initially, delicate designs are often executed using bulky cantilevers though, which derogate the true elegance of these shapes. The new techniques discussed in this paper demonstrate how the combination of compression-only shells with funicular tension rings leads to a great variety of efficient and expressive forms. The research demonstrates how compression and tension forces can be explicitly controlled and manipulated locally in such structures, using a fully implemented, digital form-finding tool based on Thrust Network Analysis. Thanks to the flexible implementation, resulting shell designs range from simple symmetric shapes to complex, configurations with perforations in the shell and undulating ridge edges. Independent of their complexity, all resulting shells are subject to the clear and comprehensible structural system. The structural system is tested and verified using a 3D printed, discrete, structural scale model. The elegance and delicate composition of form and force in compression and tension showcased in this funnel-shaped rib-vaulted model hints to the new possibilities for contemporary, architectural applications of the presented structural typology.

Matthias Rippmann, Philippe Block

ETH Zurich - Institute of Technology in Architecture, Switzerland