ELYTRA FILAMENT PAVILION
WAIC, West Bund, Shanghai

The Elytra Filament Pavilion constituted one of the architectural center pieces of the World Artificial Intelligence Conference 2018 (WAIC). Located in Shanghai’s prime art district, the West Bund, the pavilion demonstrates how architectural design can unfold from a computational synergy of structural engineering, environmental engineering and production engineering, resulting in unique spatial and aesthetic qualities. The conference is a platform for the world’s most influential AI scientists, entrepreneurs and politicians to engage in high-level dialogues on leading AI technologies and trends in the AI industry.

The pavilion was commissioned by the Victoria and Albert Museum for its central courtyard in 2016.

Elytra Filament Pavilion, Victoria and Albert Museum

In 2017 it was also on display at the Vitra Design Museum.

Elytra Filament Pavilion, Vitra Campus



DESIGN, ENGINEERING AND FABRICATION TEAM

Achim Menges with Moritz Dörstelmann
ICD – Institute for Computational Design, University of Stuttgart
Achim Menges Architect, Frankfurt
Team also includes: Marshall Prado (fabrication development), Aikaterini Papadimitriou, Niccolo Dambrosio, Roberto Naboni, with support by Dylan Wood, Daniel Reist

Jan Knippers
ITKE – Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart
Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering, Stuttgart, New York
Team also includes: Valentin Koslowski & James Solly (structure development), Thiemo Fildhuth (structural sensors)

Thomas Auer
Transsolar Climate Engineering, Stuttgart
Building Technology and Climate Responsive Design, TU München
Team also includes: Elmira Reisi, Boris Plotnikov

With the support of:
Michael Preisack, Christian Arias, Pedro Giachini, Andre Kauffman, Thu Nguyen, Nikolaos Xenos, Giulio Brugnaro, Alberto Lago, Yuliya Baranovskaya, Belen Torres, IFB University of Stuttgart (Prof. P. Middendorf)

Commission:
Victoria & Albert Museum, London 2016


FUNDING

The Elytra Filament Pavilion on the Vitra Campus has been realised with the generous support of:

Design Circle – Freunde des Vitra Design Museums e.V. GETTYLAB University of Stuttgart

The Elytra Filament Pavilion has been produced with the support of:

Victoria & Albert Museum, London
University of Stuttgart

GETTYLAB
Kuka Roboter GmbH + Kuka Robotics UK Ltd
SGL Carbon SE
Hexion
Covestro AG
FBGS International NV
Arnold AG
PFEIFER Seil- und Hebetechnik GmbH
Stahlbau Wendeler GmbH + Co. KG
Lange+Ritter GmbH
STILL GmbH