HYBRID FLAX PAVILION
Landesgartenschau Wangen im Allgäu, 2024, Germany

The Hybrid Flax Pavilion constitutes a central exhibition building on the grounds of the Landesgartenschau, located on the winding banks of the recently revitalised Argen River. The pavilion showcases a novel wood-natural-fibre hybrid construction system developed by the Cluster of Excellence »Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture« (IntCDC) at the University of Stuttgart, as an alternative to conventional building methods. The unique hybrid system combines thin cross-laminated timber with robotically wound flax fibre bodies to create a novel, resource-efficient building structure made from regional, bio-based materials with a distinct local connection. Flax was historically processed in the local textile industry, whose old spinning mill was renovated as part of the Landesgartenschau. The pavilion’s gently undulating roof, together with its circular floor plan and centrally located climate garden, creates an exhibition space that seamlessly integrates into the surrounding landscape. The geothermally activatable floor slab made of recycled concrete provides year-round comfortable use of the permanent building.

For a detailed description and more images please view:

https://www.icd.uni-stuttgart.de/projects/hybrid-flax-pavilion/

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PROJECT PARTNERS

Cluster of Excellence IntCDC – Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture, University of Stuttgart

ICD Institute for Computational Design and Construction

Prof. Achim Menges, Rebeca Duque Estrada, Monika Göbel, Harrison Hildebrandt, Fabian Kannenberg, Christoph Schlopschnat, Christoph Zechmeister

ITKE Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design
Prof. Dr. Jan Knippers, Tzu-Ying Chen, Gregor Neubauer, Marta Gil Pérez, Valentin Wagner

with support of: Daniel Bozo, Minghui Chen, Peter Ehvert, Alan Eskildsen, Alice Fleury, Sebastian Hügle, Niki Kentroti, Timo König, Laura Marsillo, Pascal Mindermann, Ivana Trifunovic, Weiqi Xie

Landesgartenschau Wangen im Allgäu 2024
Karl-Eugen Ebertshäuser, Hubert Meßmer

Stadt Wangen im Allgäu

HA-CO Carbon GmbH
Siegbert Pachner, Dr. Oliver Fischer, Danny Hummel

STERK abbundzentrum GmbH
Klaus Sterk, Franz Zodel, Simon Sterk

FoWaTec GmbH
Sebastian Forster

Biedenkapp Stahlbau GmbH
Stefan Weidle, Markus Reischmann, Frank Jahr

Harald Klein Erdbewegungen GmbH

PROJECT COLLABORATIONS

Scientific Collaboration:
IntCDC Large Scale Construction Laboratory
Sebastian Esser, Sven Hänzka, Hendrik Köhler, Sergej Klassen

Further Consulting Engineers:

Belzner Holmes und Partner Light-Design
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Thomas Hollubarsch, Victoria Coval

BiB Concept
Dipl.-Ing. Mathias Langhoff

Collins+Knieps Vermessungsingenieure
Frank Collins, Edgar Knieps

Moräne GmbH – Geotechnik Bohrtechnik
Luis Ulrich M.Sc.

Spektrum Bauphysik & Bauökologie
Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Markus Götzelmann

wbm Beratende Ingenieure
Dipl.-Ing. Dietmar Weber, Dipl.-Ing. (FH) Daniel Boneberg

lohrer.hochrein Landschaftsarchitekten DBLA

Building Approval:

Landesstelle für Bautechnik
Dr. Stefan Brendler, Dipl.-Ing. Steffen Schneider

Proof Engineer
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Hans Joachim Blaß, Dr.-Ing. Marcus Flaig

Versuchsanstalt für Stahl, Holz und Steine, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT)
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Thomas Ummenhofer, Dipl.-Ing. Jörg Schmied

MPA Materials Testing Institute, University of Stuttgart
Melissa Lücking M.Sc., Dipl.-Ing (FH) Frank Waibel

Construction Collaboration
ARGE- Leistungsbereich Wärmeversorgungs- und Mittelspannanlagen
Franz Miller OHG
Stauber + Steib GmbH

PROJECT SUPPORT:

DFG German Research Foundation

Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz Baden-Württemberg

Bioökonomie Baden-Württemberg: Forschung- und Entwicklung (FuE) Förderprogramm »Nachhaltige Bioökonomie als Innovationsmotor für den Ländlichen Raum«

Holz Innovativ Programm (HIP), Ministerium für Ernährung, Ländlichen Raum und Verbraucherschutz Baden-Württemberg

IFB Institute of Aircraft Design, University of Stuttgart

ISW Institute for Control Engineering of Machine Tools and Manufacturing Units, University of Stuttgart

STAGE ENVELOPE
Pier 17, Manhatten

The Stage Envelope on the rooftop of Pier 17 combines the characteristics of an extraordinary location in Manhattan with an exceptional piece of architecture to create a unique place. The project’s constituting feature is a novel composite roof structure. Made entirely from carbon and glass fiber in a fully digital fabrication process, this filamentous building system is as architecturally expressive as it is structurally efficient. It intensifies the visitors’ experience of the rooftop by being a distinctive event backdrop, a structural spectacle, and a piece of public art. It also establishes a new architectural landmark in a most prominent position of New York City.

The stage envelope is the collaborative work of Menges Scheffler Architects and Knippers Helbig Advanced Engineering. Its characteristic architecture is based on many years of research conducted at the University of Stuttgart, where Achim Menges heads the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Jan Knippers the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE).

More informationen about the Stage Envelope:

https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/pier-17-nyc

https://www.6sqft.com/lpc-approves-achim-menges-futuristic-rooftop-pavilion-and-stage-for-pier-17/

ELYTRA FILAMENT PAVILION
Victoria and Albert Museum, London

The Elytra Filament Pavilion celebrates a truly integrative approach to design and engineering. As a centrepiece of the V&A’s Engineering Season it demonstrates how architectural design can unfold from a synergy of structural engineering, environmental engineering and production engineering, resulting in unique spatial and aesthetic qualities. It showcases the profound impact of emerging technologies on our conceptualisation of design, engineering and making, by intensifying the visitors architectural experience of the museum’s central garden. But instead of being merely a static display, the pavilion constitutes a dynamic space and an evolving structure. The cellular canopy grows from an onsite fabrication nucleus, and it does so in response to patterns of inhabitation of the garden over time, driven by real time sensing data. The pavilion’s capacity to be locally produced, to expand and to contract over time provides a vision of future inner city green areas with responsive semi-outdoor spaces that enable a broader spectrum of public activities, and thus extend the use of the scarce resource of public urban ground.

For a detailed description and more images please view:

https://www.icd.uni-stuttgart.de/projects/elytra-filament-pavilion/

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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

Victoria & Albert Museum, London
University of Stuttgart

Getty Lab

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

NATIONAL LIBRARY OF THE CZECH REPUBLIC

The competition proposal for the New Czech National Library in Prague, a collaborative project of OCEAN NORTH and Scheffler + Partner, seeks to provide both a singular monolithic appearance for one of the key buildings of Czech culture, as well as a continuous and gradient spatial experience of the building and adjacent landscape of the site. The overall building volume is structured to be at the same time contained and open, confined and continuous, providing differentiated spatial experiences for visitors and employees alike. The scheme is understood as one of several landscaped sites that together form a network of adjacent events, differentiated spatial provisions and scenic spots.

The distinctive tectonic articulation of the cantilevering volumes is developed through generative computational processes driven by spatial and structural criteria. In an analytic procedure the stress distribution within the envelope of a specified volume is evaluated and mapped as a vector field of principal forces. According to this structural information, combined with other parameters such as for instance the angle of incident of sunlight, view axes and spatial characteristics, a network of merging branches is derived. The resulting changing opacity and permeability of the building envelope that ranges from the opaque and solid national archive to the gradient density of the cantilevered envelopes‘ structural skin and the open access to public landscape provides a wide range of spatial and microclimatic situation that facilitate and enable both, the high level of organisational control required for a library building and the heterogeneous conditions enabling zones of migrating activities and intensified individual experience of inhabiting space and enjoying the various media and the social dynamic of the library.

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PROJECT TEAM

OCEAN NORTH and Scheffler + Partner

Project Coordination: Michael Hensel and Achim Menges
Project Team: Andrea Di Stefano, Aleksandra Jaeschke, Steinar Killi, Eva Scheffler, Birger Sevaldson, Defne Sunguroğlu, Guillem Barraut, Mattia Gambardella, Pavel Hladik, Gabriel Sanchiz

Engineering Consultants: Bollinger & Grohmann Consulting Engeneers
Landscape Consultant: Thom Roelly

VISITOR CENTRE HERCULES MONUMENT

The competition design for a visitor centre for the Hercules monument in Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe, Germany, which is on the list of prospective world heritage sites, is situated at the 515m high peak of a major baroque sight axis of between Kassel Wilhelmshöhe Palace, a 250m long water cascade and the 71m tall Hercules monument designed by Francesco Guerniero in 1717. Due to the complex historical situation the proposal for the visitor centre suggests an infolding of the park to articulate an interior landscape submerged underground that intensifies the transition from the natural surrounding of Habichtswald to the baroque park and monument. Thus, rather than relating the competition brief to specific spatial entities that aim at directly answering the programmatic and volumetric requirements the project‘s spatial strategy is based on providing an interior environment made up of different micro-milieus. These offer a range of luminous conditions, surface articulations and views along each visitor‘s path to the Hercules monument through strategic penetrations of the exterior park by which the structure is covered. Thus the western approach to Wilhelmshöhe passing through the visitor centre is articulated as a series of terrains that allow each visitor to choose individual itineraries and sojourns as a personal response to daily and seasonal changes of light intensities, different vistas, programmatic provisions and duration of visit.