1. Reciprocal Frames in Temporary Structures: An Aesthetical and Parametric Investigation
- Author
-
Francesco Leali and Francesco Gherardini
- Subjects
Engineering drawing ,Tessellation ,Visual Arts and Performing Arts ,General Mathematics ,Constraint (computer-aided design) ,0211 other engineering and technologies ,Aesthetics ,Architectural pavilions ,Natural form ,Parametric modelling ,Reciprocal Frame ,Shell structure ,020101 civil engineering ,Geometry ,02 engineering and technology ,Grid ,0201 civil engineering ,021105 building & construction ,Architecture ,Frame (artificial intelligence) ,Point (geometry) ,Reciprocal ,Generative grammar ,Parametric statistics ,Mathematics - Abstract
This paper deals with the use of reciprocal frames in temporary gridshell structures, such as architectural pavilions in expositions and installations. These architectural examples can benefit from the use of short, easy to handle, generally joint-free, and repeatable “modules” in order to create particular self-supporting structures. The lightweight and interwoven grid obtained by connecting short elements according to the reciprocity principle is structurally efficient and, at the same time, aesthetically pleasing, mainly due to the resulting tessellation. The paper firstly investigates the connection between efficiency and aesthetics. The last part of the paper investigates some temporary architectural pavilions from both an aesthetical and parametric point of view. In order to deepen our understanding of these structures, they are re-modelled according to a bottom-up approach by means of a constraint-based parametric CAD modeller. In this way, a reciprocal frame can be explored and modified by the parametric arrangement of its generative elements, which, like a natural organism, grows in self-generating forms.
- Published
- 2017