sustainable pavilion
touring australia (dec 2011 - dec 2012)

we’re currently working on a sustainable hub pavilion that will be touring the major cities of australia to educate city dwellers on how to live their urban existence in a more sustainable manner.  the brief is to develop a 12 metre wide deployable structure that must be: durable; self-supporting; waterproof; (dis)assembled within three hours; 70% recyclable material; lightweight; adaptive and inexpensive… lots of boxes to tick.

looking through a number of precedents on deployables, the minimal surfaces, yurts, tensegrity structures and geodesics were a recurring theme that we desperately wanted to avoid.  alternatively, we were interested in hybrid structures that had no restrospective connotations, therefore we looked at structural principles and respective rulesets to develop an adaptive parametric model within grasshopper.


parametric model matrix

utilising the geodesic’s load transferring organisation, we employed two force agents that would influence the structural nodes, similar to that of an isostatic surface’s operation.  this initial sketch model allows for the exploration of multiple spaces to emerge from the structural matrix whilst other parameters such as  member density and agent influence provides feedback on material lengths and structural performance.


unfold script

one of the most powerful techniques available in grasshopper that most other parametric softwares do not have available is the ability to drag / drop / connect any number of components or organised algorithms onto an existing GH definition.  we have been building a number of explicit definitions that perform specific routines (tessellate, goal seek, optimise, etc.) from a library of definitions that we have been compiling – above is an example of our new and improved unfold script which then flattens a list (or dataTree) of parts into two dimensional maps – which can be then used to asses material layouts and ultimately to deliver fabrication templates.  the form was scripted to extract the points as a series of banded strips that could each be laser cut, requiring only one connection per band (as a periodic strip) and three or four connections between each band.


prototype matrix

above is a matrix of laser cut models of which 1 hour of cutting and 2 hours of taping the strips exemplifies the potential of parametric > fabrication methods.


selected prototype frame


unfolded landscape-pavilion

further to the hybrid  model, we’re interested in the potential for the strips to unfold out from an enclosed structure, performing as an external landscape – housing lighting, seating, partitions, etc. from within the tessellated geometry.


prototype part map


eduardo (urban future) and ben working on the 1:5 prototype.


eduardo (urban future) and matt (peats’ ridge) at the PR office.


eduardo (urban future) and matt (peats’ ridge) at the PR office.


1:20 model