BigO

Veszprém, Hungary

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BigO

Veszprém, Hungary

Firm

CODA BarcelonaTech

Type

Hospitality + Sport › Sports Center
Cultural › Pavilion

YEAR

2013

CODA members Enrique Soriano and Pep Tornabell, were invited to participate in HelloWood festival mainly sponsored by Jaf Holz Ungarn Ltd, held each year in Hungary and bringing together young designers and architects around wood construction. For a week and with the help of 8 students, the group stepped forward in their research by conducting the project BigO, a toroidal wooden shell. The aim was to build a very rigid structure yet affordable. The strategy was making a thin doubly curved shell from slender straight flat timber planks.

The context of a summer workshop forced pragmatic solutions: the structure was assembled with 100 identical pieces of 9.5 meters that were manufactured on a specifically built table. Original raw planks were approximately 3 meters, with a section of 1 x 10 cm, so they had to be joint, cut, marked and bored. Genuine digital manufacturing, not done by robots, but by enthusiastic students with much precision. Both the detailing and the setting-out on site were solved with students and experiencing specific material in- situ.

The experience produced two conclusions. The first is that the highly torsioned geodesic curve on the synclastic-anticlastic surface induced high prestresses in the planks, providing an exceptional self-stiffening effect. The structure was finally achieved by maintaining a low technological profile for a highly efficient result. The second conclusion is that the group would have never reach a similar result without the extraordinary good atmosphere in the festival.

Collaborators: Peter Krompáczki, Alma Tóth, Dóri Komlóssy, Akos Takacs, Paul, Irina , Marta Ventura, Daphne Zografou
Photo credit: Somoskoi Gabor, Donat Kekesi

Materials used:
1 m3 of planned pine planks in 1x10 cm section provided by Jaf Holz Ungarn Ltd
400 pinned connections of metalic bolts and timber dowels
50 pseudo-foundations made of 0,5 metric steel rods and 4x4cm pine sections
Lot of fröccs and Pálinka by Janus winery