No. 269

Flextructure

By : dschulte

Entrant’s location : Mexico City, Mexico

LINKS

Description

Traditionally, architectural design has been prevailed by top-down design methods, which generally subordinate material and manufacturing considerations for the geometry learned. While bottom-up strategies have increasingly been explored in design processes, such as biomimetic approaches, they often follow a top-down manufacturing solution. Unlike conventional design methods, both the design development and the materialization process can be considered equal design drivers through the use of biomimetic design principles and the simultaneous development of new manufacturing methods (La Magna et al. ., 2013; Menges, 2013) . Biomimetic approaches have proven to have significant potential for design implementations through their systemic complexity and multiple logics (Gruber 2011). The morphological principles of natural organisms are absorbed and transferred to architectural applications for their performative geometries and their functional integration. The evolutionary biological processes offer a remarkable example for the integration of multiple requirements in the morphogenetic process. This project seeks to make a replicable structure optimized from biomimetic studies to support anti-earthquake loads and to make a new and innovative construction process for the engineering and architecture market. Based on the spiderwebs, the most resistant natural structure in the world, this project was developed in six different explorations to study the physical and mechanical properties about them and how they work as a structure.

What did you create?

Based on the spiderwebs, the most resistant natural structure in the world, the project was developed in six different explorations to study the physical and mechanical properties about them and how they work as a structure.

Why did you make it?

The earthquakes of September 7 and 19, 2017 left social, urban, architectural, patrimonial, historical, and economic effects. They give us the guide for contemporary architects and designers to take this as an opportunity to innovate and investigate new systems of construction. Therefore, from a study and analysis that was made from understanding that they are earthquakes, how they behave, generate and anti-seismic structures both current and in the history of humanity, we could see that the main problem that resolves the Question: Why do the buildings fall? Is it the "soil-structure" relationship, that we answered together with the support of Benjamín Romano, winner of the 2018 International High Rise with the Torre Reforma. Therefore, this thesis, from that study and complementing with a geometric research on the concept of tessellations and various geometric exercises, we focused mainly on the analysis and study of the most resistant and deformable natural structure in the world. The cobwebs , which, various explorations were made to study/understand its mechanical and physical properties; as well as, reinterpreting the information to contemporary structural systems. In order to be able to replicate these strategies for the future manufacturer of contemporary system of construction. They need to respond to the capacities of webs nowadays in nature, which resist natural disasters like the earthquakes. Productive form of alignment where the spider acts as a model of behavior and as active agents of production. This project is dedicated to making an innovative proposal, redesigning a new strategy and structural system totally adaptable to any building scale and conditions, where the computational tools and technology are used to optimize a solution to the problems caused by a natural disaster. generate impact not only in architecture, but at the social level, by a new search for design strategies and structural criteria. IMPACT: Social: Impact to find alternative solutions in case of natural disasters such as an earthquake through the relationship between design and nature. Architectural: Innovation in a new way to generate strategies to make architecture from the hand of computational tools and technology to optimize and find new solutions to needs that we live through design today. Economic: Generates new construction systems based on the behavior of nature, with natural materials and with less impact on the environment.

How did you make it?

The research was carried out in several studies. The first exploration consisted in studying how flexible structures work with flexible materials (clips). The experimentation from a digital process, gave us as a result that when using square modules are easily deformed, but when adding a triangular module, tension is created and its deformation is prevented by the properties of the geometry. The second experiment was based on studying a tarantula of orange baboon species (Pterinochilus murinus) is a species of tarantula of the genus Pterinochilus, belonging to the family Theraphosidae. It can be found on the African continent, specifically in the central and southern regions of Africa. This species was chosen for its ability to make cobwebs in a short time and its dense web was studied in the original container. Therefore we seek to map the natural process of weaving the web with a methodology where from an exploration where 3 modules of 15 x 15 cm were made which, first Zaha (the tarantula) wove in the module with the intention of manipulating and Mapping the natural weaving process of the web in a period of 1 to 3 weeks. Simulating the process until solidifying the final result identifying its 3 elements that form it: 1. Shape (The morphology of the cobweb) 2. Material (The spider's web) 3. Production (The behavior of the weaving of the web).

Your entry’s specification

01. We build an acrylic box of 15 x 15 cm. where perforations were made so that the spider could breathe and also the mapping of the cobweb process was simple. 02. Then guides were built so that the spider would lean and could weave its web through them, as well as leaving food and drink at strategic points for more than 3 weeks. 03. After the estimated time, the record of how the spider made its web was mapped and a line was woven that crossed from point to point to be able to manipulate the design. 04. The process was extracted and that is how we chose the guidelines to be able to do the process of programming, simulation and solidification of the process. 05. From the points and lines of the process mapping of the natural web, a simulation was made with Kangaroo, which gave us the following diagram as a result and which allows us to simulate the mechanical properties of the web. 06. As a final result, this polygon mesh was optimized, using the Cocoon plugging, which allowed us to solidify the process and obtain a structure that is the result of a natural process, whose properties come from a natural web and can be edited to our own taste , depending on the necessity.

CLOSE