Structural Oscillations

Venice, Italy

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Structural Oscillations

Venice, Italy

Firm

ETH Architektur und Digitale Fabrikation (DFAB)

YEAR

2008

For the exhibition “Explorations” - the Swiss contribution to the 11th
Venice Architectural Biennale - we conceived a 100 meter long brick wall
to run as a continuous ribbon through the Swiss pavilion. The design of
the wall followed algorithmic rules and was built on site at the
Giardini, the grounds of the Biennale, by the R-O-B mobile robotic
fabrication unit. With its looped form, the wall defines an involuted
central space and an interstitial space beyond, between the brick wall
and the existing structure of the pavilion. Passing from one space to
the other, the visitor gains access to the exhibition. Through its
materiality and spatial configuration the wall, consisting of 14,961
individually rotated bricks, enters into a direct dialogue with the
modernist brick structure from 1951 by Swiss architect Bruno
Giacometti. The wall’s design was conceived as a system with open
parameters. The course of a single, continuous curve carried all the
generative information necessary to determine the design. This curve
functioned as a conceptual interface, which enabled the needs of the
individual exhibited groups to be negotiated. As each group’s
requirements were modified, the three-dimensional, undulating wall
could be automatically re-generated. Its complex shape was determined
by the constructive requirement that each single, four meter long
segment should stand firmly on its own. Where the course of the
generative curve was almost straight, meaning that the wall elements
could possibly be tipped over by the visitors, the wall’s footprint
began to swing, thus increasing its stability. Each curvature in the
lower layers was balanced by a counter-curvature in the upper layers,
thus giving the wall its architectural expression. The wall loop
adapted its shape according to its course, widening and narrowing,
producing tension-rich spaces to lead visitors through the exhibition.
In addition, the individual bricks were rotated according to the
curvature - the greater the concavity of the curve, the more the bricks
were rotated. This further emphasised the plastic malleability of the
wall, which acquired an almost textile character, in oscillating
contrast to the firm materiality of the bricks.Client: BAK - Bundesamt für KulturCooperation with: Reto GeiserCollaborators:
Michael Knauss (project leader), Ralph Bärtschi, Tobias Bonwetsch,
Nadine Jerchau, Michael Lyrenmann, Gregor Bieri, Michael Bühler, Hannes
Oswald, Lukas Pauer