Fibrous Tectonics. (September 2015) - Menges, Achim
Abstract Living nature is characterised by ubiquitous and all‐pervading diversity. Over the course of evolution, highly differentiated and infinitely varied systems have emerged in biology. Given the vast range of natural variation, it may come as a surprise that almost all load‐bearing biological structures are fibrous composites. Guest‐Editor Achim Menges, Director of the Institute for Computational Design (ICD), and Jan Knippers, Director of the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE), both at the University of Stuttgart, have conducted several research projects exploring how the principles of biological fibre systems can be transferred to architecture. Based on advanced design computation, simulation and robotic fabrication, these explorations not only open up a new approach to fibre‐reinforced composite structures, but also enable the discovery of novel fibrous tectonics.