Gridshells: integrating design with structural performance in early design stages, using formal and informal knowledge

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.11606/gtp.v17i1.183507

Keywords:

Gridshells, Kangaroo, Karamba, Formal and informal design

Abstract

Gridshell has long interested the enthusiast of lightweight construction. The most popular examples date back to the 1960s; gridshell development requires mathematical, technical and material resources. These requirements limit gridshell development to special buildings, and their design to specialists requiring considerable time and budget to construct them. Digital processes of design, fabrication and assembly offer renewed possibilities to tackle these difficulties and to deepen the interaction among form, material and structural performance. This article documents a didactic experience regarding architectural and engineering gridshell design aimed at relative beginners, considering structural behaviour from early design stages. The research is included in a broader research about gridshells that seeks to gradually integrate formal and informal knowledge about form-finding, including empirical and theoretical research. The didactic experience is framed in a series of empirical constructions we are developing, and contributing to the collective debate about how to expand gridshell construction further.

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Author Biography

  • Gonçalo Castro Henriques, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro

    GONÇALO CASTRO HENRIQUES

    Professor assistente FAU-UFRJ e Vice-coordenador LAMO Laboratório Modelos e Fabricação Digital. Arquiteto (ESAP), Mestre (ESARQ-UIC) e Doutor europeu (FAUTL), desenvolve pesquisa sobre integração processos generativos (design algorítmico e paramétrico, scripting), com simulação e fabricação digital (CAAD-CAE-CAM). Apresentou conferências, workshops e construiu em diversos países.

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Published

2021-11-12

Issue

Vol. 17 No. 1 (2022): special issue in partnership with the Ibero-American Society of Digital Graphics (SIGraDi)

Section

Papers

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Copyright (c) 2021 Gonçalo Castro Henriques, Juarez Moara Franco

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How to Cite

HENRIQUES, Gonçalo Castro; FRANCO, Juarez Moara. Gridshells: integrating design with structural performance in early design stages, using formal and informal knowledge. Gestão & Tecnologia de Projetos (Design Management and Technology), São Carlos, v. 17, n. 1, p. 81–95, 2021. DOI: 10.11606/gtp.v17i1.183507. Disponível em: https://periodicos.usp.br/gestaodeprojetos/article/view/183507.. Acesso em: 10 mar. 2025.