Compressive Assemblies: Bottom‐Up Performance for a New Form of Construction. (July 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Block, Philippe; Rippmann, Matthias; Van Mele, Tom
• Other Names: Tibbits Skylar guestEditor.
• Is Part Of: Architectural design. Volume 87:Number 4(2017)
• Page Start: 104
• Page End: 109
• Publication Date: 2017-07
• Subjects: Roman arch -- Block Research Group -- Institute of Technology in Architecture -- ETH Zurich -- Armadillo Vault -- 'Beyond Bending' exhibition -- Ochsendorf DeJong & Block Engineering -- The Escobedo Group -- Venice Architecture Biennale -- discrete structural systems -- igloo -- Gothic builders -- Autonomous Systems and Robotic Systems Labs -- Sports Palace in Tbilisi -- Georgia -- 'pre‐cracking' -- Robert Maillart -- Salginatobel Bridge -- Schiers -- Switzerland -- Pantheon -- Rome -- microcracks -- unreinforced concrete funicular floor -- powder‐based 3D printing -- self‐supporting, stay‐in‐place formworks -- 'masonry model'; 729
• DOI: 10.1002/ad.2202
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0003-8504

Abstract

Abstract : From Inuit igloos to Roman arches to Gothic cathedrals, builders have long used friction and balance to make structures hold together. The Block Research Group at ETH Zurich is involved in ongoing research that investigates historical techniques and fuses them with the latest technologies, including robotics and 3D printing, to establish new methods of architectural assembly. Group founder Philippe Block, co‐director Tom Van Mele and team member Matthias Rippmann explain.