In the course of the exhibition “V&A’s Engineering Season” Prof. Achim Menges and Jan Knippers of Stuttgart University developed an innovative and from biology inspired structure pavilion. The structure of “Elytra Filament Pavilion” is based on the elytren – veinless wing cases whose structure is stable despite of their light weight. In order to transfer the construction principle of the elytren to a building the engineers had to use the latest robotics. A robot imitates the filament structure with the help of a custom-built winding technology with glass and synthetic fibre. In summary, the composition of the structure results in a roof surface area of 200 qm weighing only 2.5 tons.
A robot which is set up on site in the pavilion can be watched building new honeycomb elements. This enables the visitors to see the pavilion growing in a kind of display case made of ETFE-membrane. This material allows to take up the organic structure and to fit the membrane-display case harmonically into the construction – just like a dripping raindrop. Further information can be found here.