Institute for Computational Design and Construction

BUGA Fibre Pavilion

BUGA FIBRE PAVILION

ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

BUGA Fibre Pavilion

ARCHITECTS
ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

PROJECT PARTNERS ITKE
Hanspeter Faas, Oliver Toellner, Moritz Dörstelmann, Ondrej Kyjanek, Philipp Essers, Philipp Gülke, Jan Knippers, Valentin Koslowski, Marta Gil Pérez, Bas Rongen, Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design, FibR GmbH

CONSTRUCTION SYSTEM
60 load bearing robotically fabricated glass- and carbon fibre composite elements, out of 150.000m glass- and carbon fibres; transparent, mechanically pre-stressed ETFE membrane

PROJECT PARTNERS ICD
Institute for Computational Design and Construction, Achim Menges, Serban Bodea, Niccolo Dambrosio, Monika Göbel, Christoph Zechmeister

PHOTOGRAPHS
Roland Halbe

WEIGHT OF LOADBEARING FIBRE COMPOSITE STRUCTURE
7,6kg/m²

DIMENSIONS
23m diameter

AREA
400 m²

YEAR
2019

LOCATION
Heilbronn,Germany

CATEGORY
Pavillion

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

Text description provided by architect.

Embedded in the wavelike landscape of the Bundesgartenschau grounds, the BUGA Fibre Pavilion offers visitors an astounding architectural experience and a glimpse of future construction.

It builds on many years of biomimetic research in architecture at the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

The pavilion demonstrates how combining cutting-edge computational technologies with constructional principles found in nature enables the development of truly novel and genuinely digital building system.

The pavilion’s load-bearing structure is robotically produced from advanced fiber composites only.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion

This globally unique structure is not only highly effective and exceptionally lightweight, but it also provides a distinctive yet authentic architectural expression and an extraordinary spatial experience. 

The BUGA Fibre Pavilion aims to transfer the biological principle of load-adapted and thus highly differentiated fiber composite systems into architecture.

Manmade composites, such as the glass- or carbon-fiber-reinforced plastics that were used for this building, are ideally suited for such an approach because they share their fundamental characteristics with natural composites.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

The pavilion is made from more than 150.000 meters of spatially arranged glass- and carbon fibers.

They all need to be individually designed and placed, which is very hard to achieve with a typical linear workflow and established production technologies.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

Thus, it requires a novel co-design approach, where architectural design, structural engineering, and robotic fabrication are developed in continuous computational feedback.

In this way, the fiber arrangement, density and orientation of each building component can be individually calibrated, structurally tuned and architecturally articulated, while remaining directly producible.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
© Roland Halbe

The pavilion covers a floor area of around 400 square meters and achieves a free span of more than 23 meters. It is enclosed by a fully transparent, mechanically pre-stressed ETFE membrane.

The primary load bearing structure is made from 60 bespoke fiber composite components only. With 7.6 kilograms per square meter, it is exceptionally lightweight, approximately five times lighter than a more conventional steel structure.

Elaborate testing procedures required for full approval showed that a single fibrous component can take up to 250-kilo newton of compression force, which equals around 25 tons or the weight of more than 15 cars.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

The pavilion shows how a truly integrative approach to computational design and robotic fabrication enables the development of novel, truly digital fiber composite building systems that are fully compliant with the stringent German building regulations, exceptionally light, structurally efficient and architecturally expressive.

BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart


BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
© Roland Halbe


BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart


BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Courtesy of ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart


BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Diagram 1
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
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BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Section
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Plan
BUGA Fibre Pavilion
Site plan

Institute for Computational Design and Construction
T +49 711 68582786 F +49 711 68581930
Institute for Computational Design and Construction
Keplerstraße 11, 70174 Stuttgart, Germany