The Elytra Filament Pavilion is an author's repetition-variation on the theme of a building created by students and teachers of the University of Stuttgart in 2014: now, having changed somewhat, it has become part of a large-scale series of exhibitions "Engineering Season" of the Victoria and Albert Museum, which also includes a retrospective by Ove Arup …
The University of Stuttgart creates pavilions of this kind every year, exploring new ways of developing design and construction. The main topics of his experiments are biomimetics and robotics, as well as options for their connection. Archi.ru wrote about their works in 2015 and 2016. The pavilion for London was designed by architect and researcher Achim Menges, architect Moritz Dörstelmann, as well as two renowned engineers: designer Jan Knippers and climate specialist Thomas Auer of Transsolar. The carbon fiber structure was made by a robot weaver named Kuka.
The structure consists of 40 hexagons made by a robot from a mixture of carbon and fiberglass. The name of the structure (Elytra Filament) refers to the morphology of coleopteran insects: the fibrous structure of elytra - chitinous wings of beetles - was taken as the basis of the building units.
As a "loom" for this cobweb-like structure, a metal formwork was used, onto which a robotic arm wound the fibers. The resulting hexagonal cells were then solidified. The result is a canopy with an area of 200 m2 and weighing 45 kg.
Until the end of the exhibition (that is, November 6, 2016), the robot will produce more and more cells, and the pavilion will grow further and further. The locations of the hexagons will be selected according to the data collected using the fiber optic sensors.
Carbon fiber has great potential, although it is still largely unused in architecture, says Achim Menges. According to the scientist, with the help of robots it is quite possible to build from this material, for example, the roof of a stadium.
Recall that Menges, in collaboration with Knippers, who is not only known as a practical engineer, but also teaches at the Institute for Building Construction and Structural Design (ITKE), and with the participation of their students has been creating pavilions at the junction of biomimetics and robotics for several years. This year, a team of scientists and students released an object inspired by the shells of sea urchins.
