Prototypical Institute Building at ETH Zurich

At ETH Zurich, currently a new prototypical building for the Institute of Technology in Architecture is being planned in a collaborative process among the members of the institute. An exhibition at Science City Campus, ETH Zurich, is presenting the current state of the project.

Video and image courtesy of ETH Zurich.

For the design of the roof, research conducted at the Chair of Structural Design has been combined with robotic fabrication processes developed at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication to design a lightweight wood construction. The structural engineers are Dr. Lüchinger + Meyer Bauingenieure AG.

The Sequential Structure 2, a prototypical pavilion developed at the Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication, served as reference for the roof construction.

Paremetric modelling strategies developed at the Chair of Structural Design allowed for the direct inscription of structural constraints into the roof geometry.

RhinoVAULT Workshop in Innsbruck

Invited by Günther H. Filz and Rupert W. Maleczek, the Block Research Group will give a workshop at koge, University of Innsbruck, Austria, as part of the Ringvorlesung 2012. Prof. Philippe Block, Matthias Rippmann and myself will lead a design workshop using RhinoVAULT, a plug-in for Rhino, that allows for the intuitive design of compression-only shapes, offering a maximum control of the geometry.

Cooperation: The Engineer and the Architect

This book, edited by Aita Flury, describes recent developments in the relation between architect and engineer in the design process, with focus on Switzerland and Germany. With contributions by Markus Peter, Adolf Krischanitz, Jürg Conzett, Mike Schlaich, Jospeh Schwartz and many others.

"This book provides a thorough description of just how varied and complex, how stressful and yet inspiring the cooperation between architect and engineer can be, and which projects become possible only through a cooperation of these two professions. [..] As such, it provides architects and students with the tools for future cooperation" (Birkhäuser.ch)


A snapshot of the realted panel discussion at the DAZ, on page 212/213.

Watch lectures by Fritz Neumeyer, Stefan Polónyi, Yves Weinand, Joseph Schwartz, and others, from the related symposium at the ETH Zurich online here.

Modelling Funicular Structures

Funicular structures are structures whose geometry is based on the funicular polygon, a term from graphic statics. Such structures work mainly with axial forces, almost without bending. Typical examples are arches and cables.

At the IABSE-IASS Symposium 2011 in London, I presented novel parametric tools for structural design in early stages. These have been developed at the Chair for Structural Design, ETH Zurich. Download the paper here.


Based on concepts of graphic statics, custom Grasshopper components have been implemented that allow for the interactive modelling of a planar funicular polygon in Rhino. Straight lines are interpreted as external forces, axial forces in the funicular are represented by tubes, red tubes are in tension, blue tubes are in compression. The tube section is proportional to the magnitude of the axial force.


These tools facilitate intuitive modelling of funicular, hence efficient, structural systems.

RhinoVAULT - Shell Design for Rhino

RhinoVAULT is a plug-in for Rhino, being developed at the BLOCK Research Group by Matthias Rippmann, myself and Philippe Block, that allows for the intuitive design of compression-only shapes, offering a maximum control of the geometry. This software is written particularly for shaping unreinforced masonry vaults, but can also be used for designing efficient freeform shells. Based on the Thrust Network Approach (TNA), which uses a force network as discretization of the shape, it is possible to internally redistribute forces within the network using force diagrams.




A first application of the tool is a prototype of a freeform Catalan thin-tile vault erected at the ETH Campus, Zurich, Switzerland. It was planned and build by Lara Davis, and designed by Matthias Rippmann.

Pictures (c) by BLOCK Research Group

Geometry and Proportion in Structural Design

A great book about construction history:

"This collection of essays covers the wide range of topics about structural design, structural design approaches and structural pioneers in honor of the Spanish architect Ricardo Aroca. [...] He radically changed the structural education of architectural students. Aroca pushed it away from a primary analytical analysis towards the discovery of the flow of forces [...] This book includes most important and interesting thoughts on the relation between architectural and structural forms and the fact that both disciplines – architecture and engineering – have differing approaches to the function of a structure." Cited from the book review by
Annette Bögle. The only handicap for me is, that some of the essays written in spanish are not translated into english.


In his essay, Santiago Huerta, one of the book's editors, discusses the fascinating theorem of transformation of structures by William Rankine, first described in the Manual of Applied Mechanics (1858). Huerta's full article can be downloaded here.

Advances in Free-Form Masonry

This model of a free-form compression-only vault has been build using rapid prototyping. It stands just by gravity and friction. It is part of a research project of the BLOCK Research Group at the ETH Zurich. Two publications describe details about the structural models and the design process.


Form and force diagrams in plane, the force distribution in the network, and the form of the network in 3d.
The form-finding process is based on TNA, a method developed by Philippe Block.




Pictures and movie (c) by BLOCK Research Group