Wooden summer pavilion of students from the University of Stuttgart

Students of the University of Stuttgart studied wood in the summer, which, when used appropriately, can be a source of lightweight and inexpensive structures with the potential for an easily renewable natural resource. The research into new possibilities of wood was conducted by the Institute of Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Structural Components and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart. Their temporary pavilion is made from ten-meter strips of bent birch plywood that is only 6.5 mm thick. Through bending and internal tension, the slender strips became a rigid bearing structure. The pavilion consists of 80 wooden strips connected into a torus (anuloid) with an outer diameter of ten meters and a clear height of 3.5 meters. The precise shape and bending line of the individual strips stem from experimental parametric models. After entering the basic geometric and physical limits, simulations and the definition of exact bends in the material of the interconnected strips could begin. Thanks to computational design, an accurate static model was also created, taking into account bending stress and the load of the structure from the wind. The pavilion is composed of a total of five hundred different parts cut using computer-controlled machines, which the university has available right on its campus.

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