drones and industrial robots create this year's ICD / ITKE research pavilion

each yearly iteration of the ICD/ITKE research pavilion replicates a particular biological process. in building each structure, researchers, and students from the university of stuttgart work with biologists to explore the potential of digital fabrication. for the 2016-2017 pavilion, the team examined two species of leaf miner moths whose larvae spin silk ‘hammocks’ that stretch between connection points on a bent leaf.

researchers and students worked with biologists to explore the potential of digital fabrication
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

developed by the institute for computational design and construction (ICD) and the institute of building structures and structural design (ITKE) at the university of stuttgart, the pavilion’s fabrication process is based on ‘the unique affordances and characteristics of fiber construction’. as the materials used for the pavilion are lightweight and have high tensile strength, the designers were able to employ unconventional fabrication methods using drones and industrial robots.

in developing the design, the team examined two species of leaf miner moths
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

‘this collaborative concept enables a scalable fabrication setup for long span fiber composite construction,’ explains the design team, which comprised students and researchers within an interdisciplinary team of architects, engineers and biologists. ‘the research builds on a series of successful pavilions, which investigate integrative computational design, engineering and fabrication, and explores their spatial ramifications and construction possibilities.’ watch the video at the top of the page for more information, and read more about the project’s technical aspects here.

the fabrication process is based on ‘the unique affordances and characteristics of fibre construction’
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

the materials used for the pavilion are lightweight and have high tensile strength
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

unusual fabrication methods saw drones and industrial robots used
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

detail of the pavilion’s woven façade
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

in total, 184 km of fiber was used to create the structure
image by burggraf / reichert © ICD/ITKE

diagram indicating some of the unconventional fabrication methods
image © ICD/ITKE

project info:

location: keplerstr. 11-17, 70174 stuttgart, germany
completion: march 2017
area: 26.5 sqm
volume: 58 m³
fiber length: 184 km
weight: 1,000 kg
overall dimensions: 12.0m x 2.6m x 3.1m

project team:

ICD institute for computational design and construction – prof. achim menges
ITKE institute of building structures and structural design – prof. jan knippers

scientific development: benjamin felbrich, nikolas früh, marshall prado, sam saffarian, james solly, daniel reist, lauren vasey

system development, fabrication and construction: miguel aflalo, bahar al bahar, lotte aldinger, chris arias, léonard balas, jingcheng chen, federico forestiero, dominga garufi, pedro giachini, kyriaki goti, sachin gupta, olga kalina, shir katz, bruno knychalla, shamil lallani, patricio lara, ayoub lharchi, dongyuan liu, yencheng lu, georgia margariti, alexandre mballa, behrooz tahanzadeh, hans jakob wagner, benedikt wannemacher, nikolaos xenos, andre zolnerkevic, paula baptista, kevin croneigh, tatsunori shibuya, nicoló temperi, manon uhlen, li wenhan, with the support of michael preisack

in collaboration with:
institute of aircraft design (IFB) – prof. dr.-ing. p. middendorf, markus blandl, florian gnädinger
institute of engineering geodesy (IIGS) – prof. dr.-ing. habil. volker schwieger, otto lerke
department of evolutionary biology of invertebrates, university of tuebingen – prof. oliver betz
department of palaeontology of invertebrates, university of tuebingen – prof. james nebelsick

supported by:
volkswagen stiftung, GETTYLAB, kuka roboter GmbH, peri GmbH, SGL technologies GmbH, hexion stuttgart GmbH. ed. züblin AG, lange ritter GmbH, stahlbau wendeler GmbH, leica geosystems GmbH, KOFI GmbH

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