recent progress

In advance of the work on site, we've built a 1:10 scale model to do a final check on the fit of all 850 peices. The model uses 3mm thick mdf, which is about twice the thickness of the real elements so the real structure will look even more delicate than the model.....but it will still come to around 30 tons of concrete and 7 tons of steel.

Many thanks to Alan Jinsoo Kim and Aditya Chandra for their assistance with the assembly of the model.

plywood mock-up v1.0

The first plywood mock-up test is complete, with a lot of help from Yusuke and some of the Phase One students at the AADRL. Many thanks to Brian Houghton, Abhishek Bij, and Rajat Sodhi for their assistance.

Below you will see some photos documenting the process. The fabrication of the profiles was done on the 3-axis CNC machine at the AA's Hooke Park facilities designed by Frei Otto in the 1970's. The assembly was done at the DRL's John St. studios.

While it wasn't successful in standing, it was definitely successful in teaching. This is what we learned:

• 1. Cutting. The translation of line types from rhino to the CAM cutting programme caused the shape of the profiles and notches to change in places. This must be carefully reviewed and solved before any final cutting.
• 2. The internal corners of the notches must be controlled – if the corners are rounded with a 5mm radius it will reduce the fit of the profiles and any silicone gasket. It a rounded corner is chosen here to reduce stress build up in the working joint then the gasket must be modified to deal with the curvature
• 3. Assembly. The cross profiles on the floor deck should be moved to the outside of the primary profiles. This will give the structure contact with the ground over the full width of the edge and more importantly it will provide a stable jig to fit to insert and align all of the tilted primary profiles. The cross profiles on the ground should be constructed as a mat that is fully bolted of fixed together to help provide full dimensional control of the assembly.
• 4. The assembly sequence should involve erecting a number of primary rings in the centre and either side of the shell and then infilling with the remaining profiles. This will help maintain overall dimensional control and ensure everything fits.
• 5. The tilting of the rear primary profiles in the opposite direction to the front will provide a more efficient structural solution and provide balance to allow easier assembly.
• 6. The joints at the splices on the side walls and floor should be much deeper – approximately 60-80mm
• 7. The numbering of pieces and referencing of specific joint correspondence needs to be further developed. At least one joint at the end of each profile needs to be marked to match a corresponding joint in the other direction.
• 8. Another plywood mock-up of the same area should be made before Christmas after the above changes are incorporated into the design. This should be made of high quality beech ply and assembled in Hooke park.
• 9. Wear gloves next time to avoid splinters!

joint details

We've made some progress on the joint detials over the last week. The two models we were looking at use silicone gaskets to provide a cushion between the interlocking profiles and here are the two mock-ups back from the RP lab. Thanks to Jeroen for all his help.

After a design team meeting, we've decided to go with the second option because it can deal with a variation in angles in two planes; it acts as a rotational stiffener once in place, and it will provide a locking resistance against vertical shear.

The assembly process has been reduced to a minimum - a pair of gaskets will be bonded to the notches on the primary concrete profile in advance. On site, the cross profile will be inserted and then the remaining pair of gaskets can be mechanically fixed with one pin each to lock the joint together.

more joint options

moving towards mock-ups...

A few options on joint details. We have a range of 30° on the angle of intersection for each joint. We are proposing that there are then 6 details, each of which can acommodate a variation of 5°. Rieder is confident that their material is strong enough, and their fabrication process acurate enough, that we could do a concrete on concrete joint, with no gaskets or fixings. AKT is not confident about this approach. Not only do they want the gasket, but they also want a mechanical or adhesive fixing. Above is a range of options showing a range of 6 variations each on a gasket-less variable notch detail, and two rubber gasket details.

AKT is also proposing a series of details, which we will post later.

All of the details will be tested through AKT.

In parrallel, we are producing a 1:1 scale plywood mock-up to test fitting and assembly. Here's some images of the 3D model of this mock-up. Yosuke will be coordinating a team of the current DRL phase one students to fabricate and assemble this mock up.


Once again, special thanks to Marc Fornes of theverymany for his assistance with providing the Rhino scripting tools to notch and unroll these surfaces!!

the 58 unrolled profiles for the mock up, notched and ready to be cut...

rapid prototype of the pavilion skin...

Immediately following the competition win, we were able to utilize the digital prototyping facilities at the AA to produce a Z-Corp rapid prototype of the pavilion "skin" for a quick geometry check. This "skin" is modeled as the topological volumetric form of the pavilion, and is materialised through the sectioning of the skin with a series of fanning arrays of planar cuts which produce the Fibre-C lattice. This allows us to produce a geometry of continuous complex curves, while utilizing conventional flat panels.

This model has already proved invaluable as a design tool for identifying areas of the geometry that need to be revised, as well as having a tangible piece for discussion with our structural engineers AKT.