About the Book
*** Featuring a foreword by Pritzker Prize Winner Shigeru Ban ***
Bringing together experts from research and practice, Shell Structures for Architecture: Form Finding and Optimization presents contemporary design methods for shell and gridshell structures, covering form-finding and structural optimization techniques. It introduces architecture and engineering practitioners and students to structural shells and provides computational techniques to develop complex curved structural surfaces, in the form of mathematics, computer algorithms, and design case studies.
• Part I introduces the topic of shells, tracing the ancient relationship between structural form and forces, the basics of shell behaviour, and the evolution of form-finding and structural optimization techniques.
• Part II familiarizes the reader with form-finding techniques to explore expressive structural geometries, covering the force density method, thrust network analysis, dynamic relaxation and particle-spring systems.
• Part III focuses on shell shape and topology optimization, and provides a deeper understanding of gradient-based methods and meta-heuristic techniques.
• Part IV contains precedent studies of realised shells and gridshells describing their innovative design and construction methods.
Table of Contents:
Introduction; Part 1 Shells for architecture; Chapter 1 Exploring shell forms, John Ochsendorf, Philippe Block; Chapter 2 Shaping forces, Laurent Ney, Sigrid Adriaenssens; Chapter 3 What is a shell?, Chris Williams; Chapter 4 Physical modelling and form finding, Bill Addis; Chapter 5 Computational form finding and optimization, Kai-Uwe Bletzinger, Ekkehard Ramm; Part 2 Form finding; Chapter 6 Force density method, Klaus Linkwitz; Chapter 7 Thrust network analysis, Philippe Block, Lorenz Lachauer, Matthias Rippmann; Chapter 8 Dynamic relaxation, Sigrid Adriaenssens, Mike Barnes, Richard Harris, Chris Williams; Chapter 9 Particle-spring systems, Shajay Bhooshan, Diederik Veenendaal, Philippe Block; Chapter 10 Comparison of form-finding methods, Diederik Veenendaal, Philippe Block; Chapter 11 Steering of form, Axel Kilian; Part 3 Structural optimization; Chapter 12 Nonlinear force density method, Klaus Linkwitz, Diederik Veenendaal; Chapter 13 Best-fit thrust network analysis, Tom Van Mele, Daniele Panozzo, Olga Sorkine-Hornung, Philippe Block; Chapter 14 Discrete topology optimization, James N. Richardson, Sigrid Adriaenssens, Rajan Filomeno Coelho, Philippe Bouillard; Chapter 15 Multi-criteria gridshell optimization; Chapter 16 Eigenshells, Panagiotis Michalatos, Sawako Kaijima; Chapter 17 Homogenization method, Irmgard Lochner-Aldinger, Axel Schumacher; Chapter 18 Computational morphogenesis, Alberto Pugnale, Tomás Méndez Echenagucia, Mario Sassone; Part 4 Precedents; Chapter 19 The Multihalle and the British Museum, Chris Williams; Chapter 20 Félix Candela and Heinz Isler, Maria E. Moreyra Garlock, David P. Billington; Chapter 21 Structural design of free-curved RC shells, Mutsuro Saski; Conclusion The congeniality of architecture and engineering, Patrik Schumacher;
About the Author :
Sigrid Adriaenssens is a structural engineer and Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Princeton University, USA, where she directs the Form Finding Lab. She holds a PhD in lightweight structures from the University of Bath, adapting the method of dynamic relaxation to strained gridshells. She worked as a project engineer for Jane Wernick Associates, London, and Ney + Partners, Brussels, on projects such as the Dutch National Maritime Museum in Amsterdam. At Princeton, she co-curated the exhibition ‘German Shells: Efficiency in Form’ which examined a number of landmark German shell projects.
Philippe Block is a structural engineer and architect and Assistant Professor at the Institute of Technology in Architecture, ETH Zurich, Switzerland, where he directs the BLOCK Research Group, and is founding partner of structural engineering consultancy Ochsendorf, DeJong & Block LLC. He studied at the VUB, Belgium, and MIT, USA, where he obtained his PhD. He has received the Hangai Prize and Tsuboi Award from the International Association of Shells and Spatial Structures (IASS) as well as the Edoardo Benvenuto Prize. He developed thrust network analysis for the analysis of historic vaulted masonry and design of new funicular shells.
Diederik Veenendaal is a civil engineer and a research assistant at the BLOCK Research Group, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. He received his Masters from TU Delft, Netherlands and started his career at Witteveen+Bos engineering consultants, working on groundfreezing analysis for the downtown stations of the Amsterdam North/South subway line and the structural design for the largest tensioned membrane roof in the Netherlands, the ice skating arena De Scheg. His current research involves the comparison of existing form-finding methods and development of new ones for flexibly formed shells and other structural systems.
Chris Williams is a structural engineer and a Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath, UK. He specializes in computational geometry and structural mechanics, in particular for lightweight structures and tall buildings, and his work has been applied by architects and engineers, including Foster + Partners, Rogers Stirk Harbour + Partners and Buro Happold. He worked at Ove Arup and Partners, where he was responsible for structural analysis of the Mannheim Multihalle. Since then, he has worked on such projects as the British Museum Great Court roof, Weald & Downland Museum gridshell, and the Savill Gardens gridshell.
Review :
'As the role of computational tools in structural design continues to grow, the form-finding techniques detailed here are more relevant than ever. Bringing together experts in the field, I expect Shell Structures for Architecture will be a valuable inspiration and reference for architecture and engineering students and professionals seeking a deeper understanding, which is essential to make full use of such tools and techniques.' Daniel Piker, Robert McNeel & Associates 'This book should be in the library of designers of shells and grid shells.' Bill Baker, Partner at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill LLP 'In their integration of technical and creative disciplines, shell structures are a fascinating typology - this is a valuable source book for architects and engineers alike.' Xavier De Kestelier, Partner, Foster + Partners 'Shell Structures for Architecture expands architectural possibilities; a great influence on the thinking of contemporary architects.' Toyo Ito, Founding partner, Toyo Ito & Associates
