ARC - Architectural Freeform Structures from Single Curved Panels

Experienced researcher recruited at Evolute, Vienna:

Name of researcher	Michael EIGENSATZ
Recruited at project partner	Evolute
Starting date	2010-07-01
Duration of recruitment	2 years
Short description	The central topic of my recruitment was to research, implement, and test single curved panelisations of freeform surfaces with specialized panel types motivated by practical requirements. The general computational framework for D-Strip models should be extended to support the specification of practical constraints like the angles and gaps between panels and specialized to integrate practically relevant panel types like cylinders and cones or ruled panels. The theory and results developed in the 2 years of my recruitment were published in the most important scientific as well as industrial conferences and journals in the field of architectural geometry. The implementation was applied and validated on real world architectural projects and helped in the realization of some of the most prestigious architectural structures of the recent years. The Eiffel Tower Pavilions, Paris – The results of the ARC project were applied for the panelisation of the glass façades of the new pavilions that are currently under construction on the first floor of the Eiffel Tower. The double curved façade was panelized using only affordable single curved (cylindrical) panels and, due to the results developed during my recruitment, was still meeting the high quality tolerances and constraints.

More experienced researcher recruited at RFR, Paris

Name of researcher	Giovani Gomez ESTRADA
Recruited at project partner	RFR
Starting date	2011-09-02
Duration of recruitment	16 months
Short description	There is an on-going trend in architecture to employ glass surfaces of curved forms. Developable glass panels formed from cold bending techniques provide better visual characteristics, in a less time- and energy consuming manner than traditional hot bent panels. Since every cold-bent panel is mechanically fixed to its final frame, they are continuously subjected to bending stresses. It is thus important to carefully analyse the internal forces created during the fabrication process and lifetime. I worked on two projects: (1) direct calculation of von Mises and Tresca stresses for cold-bent glass panels; and (2) combined form-finding and planarisation of glass domes.