Alan Dempsey - Alvin Huang

(Project director at Future Systems Architects)

[C]SPACE PAVILION, LONDON

Our paper will present the process of design, fabrication and assembly of a dramatic fibre reinforced concrete structure commissioned by the Architectural Association school in London to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the establishment of the AA’s Design Research Lab graduate programme.

The design for the pavilion was selected by an international jury through an anonymous competition open to AADRL graduates. The pavilion is formed by a discontinuous shell structure spanning over 10m made of thin fibre reinforced concrete elements which perform as structure and skin, floor walls and furniture. The concrete is manufactured by the Austrian company Rieder, and the design of the pavilion takes the material to new technical limits, which required extensive prototyping and material testing during the design development process. The jointing of discrete concrete profiles exploits the tensile strength of Fibre-C and a simple intersecting notch joint which is locked together using a bespoke rubber gasket assembly. The angle of intersection at each joint continuously varies across the structure.

The entire design process was conducted using 3D digital and physical modelling, and the design development was completed using rigorous constraint modelling and scripting to control over 850 individually different profiles and 2000 joints. Finally, the elements were manufactured directly from digital models on CNC cutting equipment using standard sized 13mm thick flat sheets of Fibre-C concrete and 15mm thick mild steel plate.

The structure will be officially opened on the 13 March 2008 and remain at the Architectural Association until the end of April. Outline Our paper will present the concept design, development, fabrication and assembly process of the pavilion over the last 4 months in London and Germany.

Specifically we will discuss the following issues:

1. Development of the initial concept using surface and shell modelling to provide a rapid means of evaluating the form and structural performance of the project alongside rapid prototyped physical models

2. The use of revolving arrays, custom scripts and plug-ins to generate section planes and monitor over 2000 angles of intersection while also limiting profile lengths. As the geometry of the form changed in response to structural performance analysis this information had to be regularly updated, which resulted in 16 iterative versions of the design.

3. Review the interaction between FEM structural modelling and physical testing that was required due to the geometric complexity and continually transferred structural loads. We will expand on novel modes of collaboration with consultants which such projects demand and contemporary communications technologies facilitate.

4. Review the use of SLS rapid prototypes and CNC cut models throughout the design development process to evaluate the overall form of the project and 1:1 joint details to guide the detailed design and define an assembly strategy on site.

5. Review the use of SLS rapid prototypes and CNC cut models throughout the design development process to evaluate the overall form of the project and 1:1 joint details to guide the detailed design and define an assembly strategy on site.

6. Explain the strategies which were developed for issuing the production and assembly information through a combination of 3D models and procedural drawings.

7. Discuss in detail our collaboration with different manufacturers to optimize fabrication and assembly processes and reduce unnecessary production of information and material waste.

8. Present the on and off site assembly process and the specific challenges raised by low tolerances fittings, overall dimensional control and the coordination of so many discrete elements to successfully complete the structure.

9. We will conclude with more general observations about how the use of such modelling technologies and digital manufacturing have the potential to radically reconfigure our design profession and procurement processes by extending collaboration with other design consultants and manufacturers, and offering an unprecedented level of control over design development and final production.

Alan Dempsey

(AA)

Alan Dempsey studied at the AA, Universidad de los Andes, Bogotá, and Dublin Institute of Technology. He has worked with Homa Farjadi and Ocean and is currently a project director at Future Systems Architects. He was an undergraduate unit master at the AA until 2005 and has been an invited critic at many universities in the UK and Europe. His work has been widely published in the US, Europe and Asia. He is currently a co-director of the FAB research cluster at the Architectural Association, which facilitates research projects on contemporary design and fabrication technologies.

Alvin Huang

(AA)

Alvin Huang studied at the AA, and the University of Southern California. He has worked with DMJM Design and Zaha Hadid Architects, and is currently a project director at Future Systems Architects. He has been an invited critic at various universities in the UK and United States, and was a tutor in the School of Interior & Spatial Design at Chelsea College of Art & Design.