advanced building skins 14 | 15 June 2012 - lamp.tugraz.at - Graz ...

Advanced Building Skins
Figure 1: Multilayer freeform structure, Louvre Paris (Mario Bellini and Rudi Ricciotti)
2 Geometry as a Parameter in the Building Process
The interaction of design, construction, mathematics and an intensive cooperation between architect,
engineer, geometer and client are essential and mandatory for successful projects and led to synergies
of development and research. With the know-how of the participating architects and consultants,
industrial enterprises and universities architectural visions became reality.
Mathematics and in particular geometry served for decades as inspiration in architectural design and
many of the designs created by architects would not be realizable without deep geometrical knowledge
(Figure 2).
Figure 2: Sagrada Familia (Antonio Gaudi)
Dismantling surfaces into discrete parts and individual panels, so called rationalization of surfaces, is
an important challenge for the building industry. The mathematical research supports the construction
firms in setting up a digital model with the supply of the basic nets, smoothing of the curve networks
over several nodes and the improvement of member orientation for the simplification node details.
This development requires a consistent argument with the principles of the geometry of complex
envelopes and further an adjustment and an improvement of the treatment and management of digital
data sets. The integration of the Advanced Geometry Engineering (Figure 3) department in the
planning process of Waagner-Biro was an important step towards the demanding market of freeform
structures.
- 2 -