Responsive Autonomous Surface Structures

Associated Project 1 (AP 1)

IntCDC Associated Project 1
RESPONSIVE AUTONOMOUS SURFACE STRUCTURES INSPIRED BY PASSIVE MULTI-PHASE PLANT MOVEMENT

The built environment is responsible for a large proportion of global energy consumption, making weather responsive adaptive building envelopes increasingly important. While weather responsive architecture is typically conceived as an add-on function with numerous sensing, actuating and regulating devices, a fundamentally different design strategy for environmental responsiveness has evolved in biological systems. Hygroscopically actuated plant structures provide biological concept generators for the development of weather-adaptive, autonomously actuated, passive building envelopes.

The aim of this research project is to identify construction and functional principles of plant structures at various hierarchical levels, which will be abstracted and implemented in adaptive architectural systems. The project focuses on structures that perform multi-phase motion, i.e. sequences of different motion steps. The individual steps can either be sequential or represent individual responses to different stimuli, resulting in diverse, versatile bionic kinetic structures. In order to achieve technology transfer, a new class of 3D-printable hydrogel assemblies will be developed and integrated into new environmentally responsive architectural envelopes.

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS

Prof. Achim Menges
Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD), University of Stuttgart
Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Manfred Bischoff
Institut für Baustatik und Baudynamik (IBB), University of Stuttgart

RESEARCHERS

Dr.-Ing. Tiffany Cheng (ICD)
Dr.-Ing. Dylan Wood (ICD)
Renate Sachse (IBB)
Yasaman Tahouni (ICD)
Rebecca Thierer (IBB)

PARTNERS

Prof. Dr. Thomas Speck, Dr. Simon Poppinga, Plant Biomechanics Group, University of Freiburg
Prof. Dr. Jürgen Rühe, Friederike Krüger, Department of Microsystems Engineering, Chemistry and Physics of Interfaces, University of Freiburg

FUNDING

Ministerium für Wissenschaft, Forschung und Kunst (MWK -33-7533.-30-121/15/3)

PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS

  1. 2024

    1. Cheng, T., Tahouni, Y., Sahin, E. S., Ulrich, K., Lajewski, S., Bonten, C., Wood, D., Rühe, J., Speck, T., & Menges, A. (2024). Weather-responsive adaptive shading through biobased and bioinspired hygromorphic 4D-printing. Nature Communications, 15, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-024-54808-8
    2. Opgenorth, N., Cheng, T., Lauer, P. R. A., Stark, T., Tahouni, Y., Treml, S., Göbel, M., Kiesewetter, L., Schlopschnat, C., Zorn, M. B., Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Wagner, H. J., Wood, D., Sawodny, O., Wortmann, T., & Menges, A. (2024). Multi-scalar computational fabrication and construction of bio-based building envelopes – the livMatS biomimetic shell. Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures, 22–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.11374766.7

  2. 2022

    1. Tahouni, Y., Cheng, T., Lajewski, S., Benz, J., Bonten, C., Wood, D., & Menges, A. (2022). Codesign of Biobased Cellulose-Filled Filaments and Mesostructures for 4D Printing Humidity Responsive Smart Structures. 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing. https://doi.org/10.1089/3dp.2022.0061

  3. 2021

    1. Krüger, F., Thierer, R., Tahouni, Y., Sachse, R., Wood, D., Menges, A., Bischoff, M., & Rühe, J. (2021). Development of a Material Design Space for 4D-Printed Bio-Inspired Hygroscopically Actuated Bilayer Structures with Unequal Effective Layer Widths. Biomimetics, 6, Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics6040058
    2. Tahouni, Y., Krüger, F., Poppinga, S., Wood, D., Pfaff, M., Rühe, J., Speck, T., & Menges, A. (2021). Programming sequential motion steps in 4D-printed hygromorphs by architected mesostructure and differential hygro-responsiveness. Bioinspiration & Biomimetics. https://doi.org/10.1088/1748-3190/ac0c8e

  4. 2020

    1. Correa, D., Poppinga, S., Mylo, M., Westermeier, A., Bruchmann, B., Menges, A., & Speck, T. (2020). 4D pine scale: biomimetic 4D printed autonomous scale and flap structures capable of multi-phase movement. Philosophical Transactions. Series A, Mathematical, Physical, and Engineering Sciences, 378, 20190445. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsta.2019.0445
    2. Poppinga, S., Correa, D., Bruchmann, B., Menges, A., & Speck, T. (2020). Plant Movements as Concept Generators for the Development of Biomimetic Compliant Mechanisms. Integrative and Comparative Biology, 60, Article 1. https://doi.org/10.1093/icb/icaa028
    3. Tahouni, Y., Cheng, T., Wood, D., Sachse, R., Thierer, R., Bischoff, M., & Menges, A. (2020). Self-shaping Curved Folding: A 4D-printing method for fabrication of self-folding curved crease structures. Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF ’20). https://doi.org/10.1145/3424630.3425416

OTHER PUBLICATIONS

  1. 2020

    1. Menges, A., & Reichert, S. (2020). Seeking Material Capacity and Embedded Responsiveness: Design and Fabrication of Physically Programmed Architectural Constructs. In M. Kanaani (Ed.), The Routledge Companion to Paradigms of Performativity in Design and Architecture: Using Time to Craft an Enduring, Resilient and Relevant Architecture (pp. 240–259). Routledge.

    

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