Structural Design with Reclaimed Materials: an Elastic Gridshell out of Skis

Colabella, Sofia; D'Amico, Bernardino; Hoxha, Endrit; Fivet, Corentin

Abstract

This paper presents the design and construction of a 36m² gridshell, the rigidity of which is achieved through the bending of an initially flat grid of 210 reclaimed skis. The generated waste for its production is near zero as it is mostly built from discarded material. Its construction process is such that it can be disassembled and reassembled multiple times without scaffolding and by means of traditional tools only. After a brief introduction on the need for reducing embodied carbon and waste in structures through reuse, the paper sets up the constraints that have driven the definition of the pavilion, the main one being the extension of the lifetime of high-performance sport equipment by reclaiming their intrinsic mechanical properties. The paper then details the encountered unusual aspects in the design process and how they have been overcome – i.e. sporadic material supply, categorization of mechanical properties, physical alteration of these properties, and uncertainties in the numerical modelling of both the structural analysis and the construction process. Eventually, we conclude that reclaimed skis as a material have the potential to be as good as conventional timber when designing elastic gridshells. A series of future directions for this emerging field of research are also laid out.

Citation

Colabella, S., D'Amico, B., Hoxha, E., & Fivet, C. (2017, September). Structural Design with Reclaimed Materials: an Elastic Gridshell out of Skis. Presented at IASS Annual Symposium 2017 “Interfaces: architecture.engineering.science”

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (published)
• Conference Name: IASS Annual Symposium 2017 “Interfaces: architecture.engineering.science”
• Start Date: Sep 25, 2017
• End Date: Sep 28, 2017
• Acceptance Date: Jun 15, 2017
• Publication Date: 2017
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2017
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 1, 2018
• Book Title: Proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium 2017 “Interfaces: architecture.engineering.science”
• Keywords: conceptual design, form finding, gridshell, active-bending structures, material reuse, design for disassembly, skis
• Public URL: http://researchrepository.napier.ac.uk/Output/963253
• Publisher URL: https://structurae.net/literature/conference-proceedings/interfaces-architecture-engineering-science
• Contract Date: Aug 30, 2017