Abstract
The article examines the actuation characteristics of different basic structural schemes—basic body plans—for soft modular pneubotics in architecture are investigated. Eight basic body plans are translated from abstract expressions into their corresponding modular structures and (re)constructed in their physical form using up to 12 soft unit elements in the shape of a cube. Reconstructed basic body plans are then examined through a qualitative analysis of their ability to actuate and change the shape of the structure. Through adaptive manual inflation of an individual element, a group of elements, or all elements at once, motions and transformations are produced and evaluated. The results show that five out of eight basic body plans have higher actuation capacity while three show a less pronounced capacity to change shape. Based on the most pronounced characteristics of the examined basic body plans, design opportunities for potential architectural applications are proposed. These include structures that can self-erect, lift, tilt, bend, change thickness, curvature, etc. What is also shown is that basic body plans could be combined into one complex structural body.
Highlights
Pneubotic structures in architecture are quite a recent type of structures created through a combination of pneumatic and robotic components into a single structural type suitable for constructing lightweight and adaptive architectures
The schematic diagrams of basic body plans taken from the aforementioned article [29] are shown in Table 1, where they have been classified into four main types with further subdivisions, counting 8 basic body plans in total
Elements were not directly connected to one another, which corresponds to the definition of this basic body plan—that the elements responding to the specific body plans
Summary
Pneubotic structures in architecture are quite a recent type of structures created through a combination of pneumatic and robotic components into a single structural type suitable for constructing lightweight and adaptive architectures. Pneubotic structures are a part of architectural robotics—a field with three main aspects: robotic fabrication of building components, robotic construction, and robotic structures—each widely and intensely researched. “The SmartShel” robotic shell built by ILEK institute in Stuttgart uses actively adaptable supports to adjust the shell geometry for optimal use of the material resulting in only 4 cm thick wood shell spanning 10 m [4]. Another aspect of “robotic” structures are passive programmable material systems like humidity activated “Hygroskin”—a research project by Menges [5], or adaptive bimetal shading systems by
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