Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear – Part-project I – Cantilever Stand Construction

The teaching project “Building with short elements” will be developed and conducted as part of the current research project «Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear».

Students will be confronted with the cantilever stand as a research object by working on a draft, and with hands-on work will familiarise themselves with set construction principles. Next, they will use a digital planning instrument which has been developed by research and adapted to the teaching project to integrate problems of statics and fabrication as early as possible into the draft.

To lend visibility to ETH research on the Science City Campus, the result of the teaching project will be the construction of a pavillion at both the Hönggerberg and the ETH Zentrum.

This will be a teaching project which combines the disciplines of building history, architecture and construction engineering and which via transfer into construction will enrich both teaching and research.

• Das Verhältnis von Struktur und resultierender Form ist sehr direkt erfahrbar und ablesbar.
• Durch Umsetzung der Entwürfe in kleinen Projekten sind Auswirkungen von Entscheiden im Entwicklungsprozess sichtbar und bewertbar.
• Praxisnähe durch Zusammenarbeit mit Unternehmen.

A digital drafting instrument simplifies the drafting of complex spatial frame structures and cre-ates the foundations for fabrication and assembly.

Investigating the concept of historical construction in terms of its potential for present-day building proved very promising. The resulting development of the instrument has made possible the drafting of complex cantilever stands and greatly extends the scope of architectural applications. However, there is still much room for improvement:
• To make the draft precise and optimise it statically it should be possible to steer beams selectively.
• Better control of opening situations is required.
• It should be possible to generate even more component information, especially for the static computation.
• Solutions for spatial enclosure should be integrated into the instrument and included in the component information.
In general, the students suggest including more flexibility in drafting and a wider range of possibilities.

See Links and downloads: Evaluations of students

• Firm distribution of roles within the working group increases sense of responsibility, motivation and independent action.
• Practical implementation motivates and creates an awareness of the importance of preparatory decisions.
• Check material costs via third parties, because in some industries (e.g. the wood industry) little funding is available.

• Website Prof. Annette Spiro