Rossella Giangreco-Marotta

Nicholas Bruscia

ARC 605
Fall 2019

MArch

This Situated Technologies Graduate Research studio spent the semester experimenting with thin, plywood-core, composite shell structures. The work drew on the material-driven logic of pinch-bending wooden sheets and the material composition of lightweight, composite surfaces. The proposal to geometrically combine plywood sheets without the requirement of a frame was inspired by Buckminster Fuller’s Plydome experiments.

Students used papercutting form-finding techniques as a way to produce selfsupporting composites without the need for a large complex mold. The majority of the term was spent on both physical and digital form-finding of bent and pinched sheets, while also devising layering and panelization schemes to test how this method could scale up to form spatial partitions and enclosures. 

The material prototyping was supported by the Nohmura Foundation for Membrane Structure’s Technology. The designs were driven by an attempt to improve the spatial quality of disaster relief partitions in open, densely packed, interior environments.

In 2017, there were over 30 million new internally displaced people (IDP) associated with conflict and disasters across 143 countries and territories. The average number of recorded natural disasters per year has risen dramatically since the mid-20th century, with extreme weather and flooding accounting for the majority. It is now common for major disasters to displace a population large enough to form a town, but these are towns of borrowed spaces.

Internal displacement from sudden onset disasters requires an immediate response in the form of telecommunications, shelter, health and nutrition, and personal safety. This studio studied the architecture of that response by situating recent technological advancements in materials and off-site manufacturing within the context of IDP settlements.

The studio researched the history of migration and indigenous nomadic dwellings from a range of climatic conditions for inspiration, both as social clusters and as purely formal, structural, and material artifacts. By adopting flat-toform geometric techniques, thin sheet materials were converted into organized spaces that could be easily transported and assembled. Knitted or woven textile reinforced composites and bendable plywood surfaces were of particular interest due to their strength-to-weight ratio and ability to quickly transition from a flat plane to a three-dimensional form.

Advanced digital modeling and visual programming methods enabled a quick organization of forces, and an iterative simulation of the results, to accurately model the complex characteristics of flexible materials. 

The prototype created aims to divide space for IDP, while maintaining privacy and providing placement of as many beds as possible. The flat, unassembled sheet can be efficiently transported and easily assembled on site. The unique shape of the panels can be configured and sewn together to create three different possibilities: a continuous wall, an enclosed pod, or a doorway.

The continuous wall creates deep shells for the placement of beds, allows visual privacy when sleeping, and creates corridors that help to diffuse sound. The enclosed pod occurs at the end of each wall. It is created by keeping the direction of the fold the same for four consecutive folds and allows for additional privacy or storage space when needed. The door is created by skipping a seam and then continuing the fold pattern, which flips the orientation of the shells and creates an opening that allows for movement between corridors.