the university of stuttgart?s institute for computational design and construction (ICD) and institute for building structures and structural design (ITKE) have again teamed up to design and fabricate (with the help of robots) a pavilion made from advanced fiber composites. embedded within the landscape of a park in the german city of heilbronn, the structure combines cutting-edge computational technologies with constructional principles found in nature.

image © ICD/ITKE university of stuttgart (also main image)
 
 
the ?BUGA fibre pavilion? builds on years of biomimetic research in architecture carried out by the ICD and the ITKE at the university of stuttgart. the pavilion?s load-bearing structure has been robotically produced using only advanced fiber composites. this ensures that the structure is not only exceptionally lightweight, but that it also provides a distinctive architectural expression and an extraordinary spatial experience.
image © ICD/ITKE university of stuttgart
 
 
?in biology most load-bearing structures are fiber composites,? explains the design team. ?they are made from fibers, as for example cellulose, chitin or collagen, and a matrix material that supports them and maintains their relative position. the astounding performance and unrivaled resource efficiency of biological structures stem from these fibrous systems. their organization, directionality and density is finely tuned and locally varied in order to ensure that material is only place...