Redesign - Frei Otto

As part of our presentation, the reviewers had issues with our form. We had tried to contrast organic and angular... however they said this wasn't done successfully and we should go for one or the other, so after much deliberation, experimentation and designing we decided to follow through with organicism. Special thanks go to fellow student Tim Fullwood, who after seeing the forms we were thinking about developing told us about the architect and engineer Frei Otto!

Frei Otto

-German architect and engineer b. 1925 in Siegmar, Saxony, Germany
-Best known for his research and design of lightweight, high-performance tent structures
-Creations include tents with minimal surface areas, grid shells stabilized by inverting traction lines, pneumatic envelopes whose form is determined by pressure ratios, and buildings that can be adapted to the changing needs of their owners
-In the 1950s he used models to define and test complex tensile shapes
-Often created pavilions composed of primary membrane elements in an additive series
-Also developed a convertible roof with a variable geometry.
-Otto is the world's lead­ing au­thor­ity on lightweight tensile and mem­brane structures, and has pi­o­neered ad­vances in struc­tural math­e­mat­ics and civil en­gi­neer­ing.

Sources:

http://www.architectureweek.com/2006/1011/news_1-1.html
http://eng.archinform.net/arch/16.htm

List of buildings
1967 – West Germany Pavilion at Expo 67 Montreal
1970 – Tuwaiq Palace, Saudi Arabia 1972 – Roof for Olympic Stadium, Munich (above)
2000 – Roof structure of the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000, Hanover Germany (provided engineering) - See next paragraph

Study of Bending
Source: http://thegeometryofbending.blogspot.com/2009/06/siegfried-gass-frei-otto-wolfgang.html

JAPAN PAVILLION, EXPO 2000 HANNOVER - Germany, 2000

Elevation

-Architect: Shigeru Ban
-'Environment' was the Hannover expo's
-Concept of the japan pavilion was to create a structure whose materials could be recycled when it was dismantled = produce minimal waste when dismantled = recycle or reuse all of the materials
-Another goal was to construct the pavilion using methods that were as low-tech as possible, so they tried to use simple joints (fabric or metal tape)
-Consists of an entrance, exhibition space 72m long, 15.5m high, and 35m span at its widest point, and administrative offices.

Interior

Materials:
- Cardboard tube ribs
- Recycable paper based membrane
- Usually membranes made from PVC in conventional membranes. But these cannot be recycled and gives off dioxins when burned.
- They found a recyclable and environmentally friendly waterproof bag material used by a postal service… so they applied that to their membrane.
- Water resistance
- Fire retardant
- Allows diffuse lighting
- Breathable natural “fabric”
- Instead of relying on concrete the foundation consists of boxes made of a steel framework and footing boards, which were filled with sand for easy reuse after dismantling
- Honeycomb board used for interior partitions

Materials Detail

Skin at night time

Source:

http://www.shigerubanarchitects.com/SBA_WORKS/SBA_PAPER/SBA_PAPER_10/SBA_paper_10.html
http://www.designboom.com/history/ban_expo.html

The importance of Frei Otto and the Japan Pavillion will become apparent in the coming posts of Sangath 3!