Department of Mechanics: Seminar: Oval 2024

10 June 2024, 13:00-14:00 CET, Room B-366 @ Thákurova 7, 166 29 Prague 6

Modular Structure Construction

Robin Oval, Civil Engineering and Geosciences, Delft University of Technology, Netherlands

E-mail: r.oval@tudelft.nl

Abstract

Making our structures elegant, efficient, and economical is essential to improve the societal and environment impact of our built environment. To do so, architects, engineers, and builders face a triple challenge: designing mechanically efficient structural forms and patterns; building them in a waste-free affordable process; and enabling disassembly for reuse in the context of circular economy. In this presentation, we will investigate the design and construction of topologically reconfigurable modular structures, exploring their trade-offs between mechanical efficiency and fabrication rationality, with benefits for automated construction and circular economy. This approach will be supported through research on pattern topological design, modular generative design, and digital construction, applied to shells, vaults, gridshells, and floors.

Short bio:

Robin is a structural engineer and designer working on the architecture of structural patterns. His doctoral and postdoctoral research journey through Ecole des Ponts ParisTech, ETH Zurich, University of Cambridge, and Princeton University led him to develop holistic digital design & construction processes, including grammatical generative design, constrained form optimization, automated robotic construction, and augmented craft, with applications focusing on spanning structures, like gridshells, shells, vaults, and floors. As an assistant professor at TU Delft, Robin is exploring topologically reconfigurable modular structures, where benefits lie in circular and automated construction, by creating and leveraging suitable design strategies, exploration algorithms, and construction technologies.