Doubly curved concrete roof complete

Together with industry partners, researchers at ETH Zurich have developed new construction methods for building a doubly curved concrete roof. Now it is complete and under the open sky on the Empa and Eawag research platform NEST.

- - -
ETH Social Media Links:

[ClowderBeatsAnimals]

I would love to build something like this but in a small scale for my tiny house and the cats' house too.

[earthfirstarchitecture]

If this is used as a roof how do you make it waterproof?

[ShambhalaVillage]

With Flex-Shell Core Monolith Pavilion Architecture, the core form, the Flex-Shell Core Pavilion, is a fluid balanced form that blends precise curves accurately however the accurate blended forms are only fully revealed in the building process which exceeds the capability of computational or generative architecture techniques. This is achieved by by block-wire frame trusses that are adjustable as they are built in place.
A wire block truss forms the center of the cylindrical column base. That single wire-block truss frame branches into two after the initial curve begins. Those bifurcating branches intersect with the adjacent 'Y' frame extended from the funnel-flare column. The trajectories, or blended radiuses, of the truss frames evens out the curve in a way that allows the complex hard-to-define curves to smooth themselves out after the frames are connected as the the block trusses are assembled in situ and the side reinforcing of the grid steel is tightened to lock the trusses in the precise shapes revealed. The truss pattern becomes obvious once the columns are connected to form the desired dome height. The roof doesn't even have to be an elipse. The right dome shape is revealed in an 'L' shaped building or even a tapered trapizoidal or even a square layout. The roof is always rounded and resting on funnel-flare columns that blend to awning that protects the entry walls that are built later in another phase while avoiding any mechanical bonding to the core pavilion for stability.
The inner dome and column is a sturdy stress-skin form long before the thin shell, that is the chemically stabilized reactive powder cement composite, is applied. The inner dome and columns is a sturdy stress-skin form while a single-shell structure awning forms the outer part of the funnel columns. A tapered curved truss is centered above the entry arches below to control the tapered connection shape between the inner insulated double shell roof and the outer single shell awning in the space directly above the entry arches. That awning has a curled edge on the outer perimeter for the same stability advantage as the curled edge on a paper plate. The single shell is expressed as bowls on the roof directly above the columns, roof gardens, and ridges that divide and connect the bowls directly above the archways. The whole building is one shape stabilized by the fluid monolithic shape and dome balancing effect of the awning. The single shell awning provides the lateral buttressing that balances the forces in the dome. The pad is leveled by retaining walls built from the same curvilinear reinforcing and self-healing composite. The retaining walls around the building protect the columns and reverse erosion in the building environment. The tooling is a small investment and the process is well developed, fast and less expensive than stick and frame construction when considering a trained crew of 3 for labor expense. It is a two-coat shell where cracks are repaired in the scrach-coat (Base coat with a scratch-rake texture) before the final coat is applied, just to be certain of now leaks. The composite is mixed in 6 gallon batches to ensure proper execution, no stress application and proper curing. Just some ideas to share on a method for similar shaping. Check it out.

[AmitThakur-zeiw]

how do they do big curves in concrete structure

[engineeringartist]

Hyperbolic parabolic spandrels. No problem.

[Dragon-Slayr]

The curve has moved to the left on the house

levesque

[maestrohun]

Printed concrete architecture has been LOST the MATCH!