Fibrous Tectonics

Abstract

Living nature is characterised by ubiquitous and all‐pervading diversity. Over the course of evolution, highly differentiated and infinitely varied systems have emerged in biology. Given the vast range of natural variation, it may come as a surprise that almost all load‐bearing biological structures are fibrous composites. Guest‐Editor Achim Menges, Director of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD), and Jan Knippers, Director of the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), both at the University of Stuttgart, have conducted several research projects exploring how the principles of biological fibre systems can be transferred to architecture. Based on advanced design computation, simulation and robotic fabrication, these explorations not only open up a new approach to fibre‐reinforced composite structures, but also enable the discovery of novel fibrous tectonics.

Eco-friendly Textile Architecture: A Review of Concepts, Terms and Sustainable Applications

“…The Stuttgart University team's research studies to design innovative novel lightweight textile structures using the special properties of composite materials, such as iber reinforced polymers (FRP), including carbon iber reinforced polymers (CFRP) and glass iber reinforced polymers (GFRP), clearly demonstrate this. These constructions' basic concept is to mimic and imitate biological iber systems through a collection of research pavilions that display the following information [52,53]:…”

Advancing Bio-Based Construction: Co-Design of a Natural Fiber-Timber Hybrid Architectural System

“…In FW, continuous fibers are wound around a mold or mandrel to produce a predefined shape [34], whereas in CFW, fibers are wound around anchor points located on a temporary frame, allowing the final geometry to emerge through material interaction during the winding process [35]. This shift gives the material an active role in form generation, fostering emergent behavior and geometrical freedom rather than adhering to a predetermined shape [36]. It also avoids waste and minimizes costs related to single-use molds.…”

Physiomimetic Façade Design

“…Hereby, load curves and stress optimisation of biological structures are being investigated in order to transfer this to technically engineered structures. Well-known in this field are the biomimetic research pavilions developed by the institutes ICD/ITKE at the University of Stuttgart (ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart, 2020) (Menges & Knippers, 2015) and . These biomimetic solutions are named "materialstructures" (Hensel & Menges, 2008).…”