Re-De-Form

An Interactive tool for the design and fabrication of gridshell structures

Master thesis (2021)

Authors

I. Spanolios Architecture and the Built Environment

Contributors

Serdar Așut Design Informatics - Architecture and the Built Environment (mentor)
O. Ioannou Building Product Innovation - Architecture and the Built Environment (mentor)
S.J.T. Jansen Housing Systems - Architecture and the Built Environment (graduation committee member)
Faculty
Architecture and the Built Environment, Architecture and the Built Environment
Copyright: © 2021 Isidoros Spanolios
More Info
expand_more

Published Date

07-07-2021

Language

English

Reuse Rights

Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.

Faculty

Architecture and the Built Environment

Abstract

The thesis focuses on developing a workflow that utilizes an interactive flexible mold as a means of designing and fabricating freeform surfaces. The focus will be on automating a flexible mold (Re-De-Form) and use it to study and fabricate freeform surfaces. Currently, the technology associated with Re-De-Form can produce complex surfaces with double curvature. One of its predecessors, FlexiMold, consists of pins which the user moves manually after reading their position from the digital model of a surface (Asut and Meijer, 2016). The system, however innovative, lacks accuracy, to be realized as a design tool for freeform surfaces. The automation will provide with the precision and accuracy needed for a freeform surface to be produced, as well as reduce the time needed for the digital freeform to be casted onto the physical freeform. The designer is freed from the obligation to place the mold pins each time a minor change in the digital model occurs (Asut, Eigenraam and Christidi, 2018). The validity of the method is tested through the design of a timber gridshell example and its panel fabrication. This includes form finding, structural and cross-sectional study and freeform panelization. A 3x3pin small scale model of Re-De- Form that deforms according to the respective freeform digital model, has been built. Additionally, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) associated with the manipulation of the surface ensures the clarity and intuitiveness of the method to the user. The final product combines physical and digital modelling into a fast, accurate, intuitive and reciprocal freeform design tool.