Modular Fibrous Morphologies: Computational
Design, Simulation and Fabrication
of Differentiated Fibre Composite Building
Components
Stefana Parascho, Jan Knippers, Moritz Dörstelmann, Marshall Prado,
and Achim Menges
Abstract The paper presents a bottom-up design process based on the transfer of
biomimetic design principles and digital fabrication strategies for modular fibre-
based structures, as demonstrated on a full-scale prototype pavilion. Following the
analysis of the structural principles of the beetle elytra, the material differentiation
and the morphologic principles of the biological role model are transferred into
design and fabrication strategies. Simultaneously, developments of a coreless
robotic winding method for glass and carbon fibre reinforced composite elements
are incorporated into the design process. The computational set-up developed for
the entire workflow is presented, showing the integration of structural analysis with
digital simulation, which enables the automatic generation of the robotic winding
syntax for individually differentiated components. The investigations, simulation,
fabrication and assembly process, which led to the realisation of a highly efficient
lightweight architectural prototype, are explained in the current paper.
1 Introduction
Traditionally, architectural design has been prevailed by top-down design
methods, which usually subordinate material and fabrication considerations for
apre-conceived geometry. While bottom-up strategies have been increasingly
explored in design processes, as for example with biomimetic approaches, these are
still often followed by a top-down fabrication solution. Contrary to conventional
design methods, both the design development and the materialisation process can
S. Parascho () • J. Knippers ()
Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: s.parascho@itke.uni-stuttgart.de; j.knippers@itke.uni-stuttgart.de
M. Dörstelmann () • M. Prado () • A. Menges ()
Institute for Computational Design, University of Stuttgart, Stuttgart, Germany
e-mail: moritz.doerstelmann@icd.uni-stuttgart.de; marshall.prado@icd.uni-stuttgart.de;
achim.menges@icd.uni-stuttgart.de
© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
P. Block et al. (eds.), Advances in Architectural Geometry 2014,
DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-11418-7_3
29