moronicbeauty:

ICD + ITKE Research Pavilion 2011

The Institute for Computer-Based Design and the Institute for Structural Engineering and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart, have come together again to create a structure which embodies the idea of bionics. The structure is intended to be an “advance of the search for a natural structure,which has an especially efficient and adaptable character: light weight, while capacity and flexibility.” The two teams searched for a reflection of this concept in nature and after some digging, found it at the marina: the Sand Dollar. “Belonging to the family of sea urchins, it returns the prototype, at the skeletal structure of the resulting experimental pavilion ajar.”

The idea behind building the pavilion was an essential and integral architectural lesson to the students, in that the architecture students work closely with the scientists to understand biological pattern formations and how to incorporate that into architecture. The result is a multi-dimensional material system made of connecting facets of birch plywood – a 72-square-foot structural and artistic pavilion with seating for park visitors to stop and enjoy!