Bending-active Structures – Research Pavilion ICD/ITKE

Bending-active structures are curved beam or surface structures that base their geometry on the elastic deformation of their initially straight or planar elements. In these lightweight structures bending is not avoided but instrumentalized to create complex curved geometries on the basis of standard semi-finished building products.

After a general introduction of bending-active Structures this paper will focus on finite element simulation strategies that are suggested for the form-finding and simulation of bending active structures. These methods, as introduced at the end of this paper, were applied to the research pavilion recently built by the ICD/ITKE at the University of Stuttgart.