ICD Aggregate Pavilion 2018:Building with Artificial Snow

摘要

The ICD Aggregate Pavilion 201 8 presents the latest results often years of research into designed granular materials for architecture. It constitutes the first fully enclosed architectural space entirely constructed from designed granules, which lie only in loose frictional contact.Once again we take a look at the ICD Aggregate Pavilion 2013 this time the focus is on the production and processing of its components, the granular particles. This project constitutes a fresh approach to full-scale design research. Although the theory of aggregated structures is not new, and some experiments have been conducted in the past by Frei Otto, Gramazio Kohler and SOMA Architects - to name just a few - this pavilion designed and produced with the help of students and researchers at ICD Stuttgart is a substantial leap forward: for the first time we can see and touch a real, walkable, three-dimensional space of about 105 cubic meters bound by a visual enclosure. The development of this type of structures poses several challenges. The aggregate employed, i.e. granular particles, is geometrically very complex and must be cast within a fixed outbound geometry. There-fore, similar to traditional concrete construction, some kind of formwork is required onsite. A research team lead by Karola Dierichs and Achim Menges used a balloon formwork - the balloons were added incrementally as the construction progressed. The connection to the ground is problematic, as the aggregate must find an appropriate soft or rough surface suitable for sufficient ground anchoring. Furthermore, the digital simulation of these structures is very difficult, and this is an area where the ICD provided very good results using digital structural FE analysis tools. As the aggregate falls in place in a chaotic order, there is little or no control of the density of the structure. The aggregate was poured in place by a robot-controlled system. No adhesives were employed; the structural integrity is achieved when the particles jam into each other. Tension forces - as they occur under real architectural conditions, for example, through wind or earthquakes - are potentially a problem. Were the pavilion to be realized under such conditions, the introduction of a thermal enclosure as building skin would be the greatest challenge.This innovative project holds high architectural potential. It creates architecture with phenomenological qualities, which are at once highly aesthetic and spontaneous. The exact geometry of the granular arrangement is uncontrolled, and therefore allows for unpredictable material aesthetics. A wall becomes a permeable screen with differentiated light and porosity qualities. The interior space is volume-less and infinite. The architectural border between the inside and outside is not a clear condition, but becomes a sophisticated threshold. Lastly, another interesting aspect is the fact that the design of the aggregate affects the overall geometry. The redesign of the 120,000 granular particles would ultimately lead to different aggregation behavior and, consequently, overall geometry.