Craft

Craft.2016 titled "Re-Envisioning Felix Candela" is located at Tehran University. This project aimed to practice the fabrication of complex shapes with Composite material. This project is a ruled surface called Plucker Conoid, inspired by Felix Candela's Work.

Form Finding Process:

In Geometry, Plucker Conoid is a ruled surface named after the German mathematician Julius Plücker. It is a right conoid and can be obtained by rotating a horizontal line about the Z-axis with the Oscillatory motion (period 2Pi) along the axis's segment [-1,1]. Eventually, the final form is designed with some manipulation to conform to fabrication's restrictions.

Optimized Thickness

This Pavilion is built in an outdoor space and on a 1:1 scale. Therefore, its resistance to physical environmental conditions, such as its weight, is essential. Accordingly, Finite Element Stress analysis methods are used to optimize the varied thickness of the shell to be sure whether the shell will break, wear out, or work perfectly. The objective of the optimization is to minimize the weight of the structure. This step is done with the plugin Millipede in Grasshopper. By evaluating the structure stress, supports, material and loads, which in this case is the structure’s weight, creating a more efficient structure is possible. According to the results, the highest stressed areas require a stronger structure and, therefore, thickness.

Subdivision:

The surface of the designed Pavilion is then subdivided based on the Isocurves of the model and by considering the size limitation of the Wire-Cutter. The plugin Octopus in Grasshopper is used to optimize the number of pieces.

The Material System:

The selected material system for this Pavilion is a customized sandwich panel and a low-density material for the core, foam. After wire cutting, each foam block is polished with three layers of vinyl. This process would prevent the blocks from corrosion which occurs rapidly if resin contacts the foam’s surface. After that, the blocks are again polished by a combination of Resin and Fiberglass powder, which make composite sandwich panels together with the foam.

Assembling:

To assemble the pavilion blocks, a temporary auxiliary Waffle structure was built to help put and glue the blocks together until reaching stability.