FREE FORM TECHNOLOGY FROM DELFT Research in Architectural Engineering Series ISSN 1873-6033 (print) ISSN 1879-8225 (online) Volume 14 Previously published in this series: Volume 13. M. Eekhout and A. van Timmeren, Development and Realisation of the Concept House ‘Delft’ Prototype – An Example of a Collaborative Concept Development for Energy Positive Apartments Volume 12. M. Eekhout and S. Wichers, Lord of the Wings – The Making of Free Form Architecture Volume 11. A. Vogler, The House as a Product Volume 10. U. Knaack and T. Klein (Eds.), The Future Envelope 3 – Facades - The Making Of Volume 9. U. Knaack and T. Klein (Eds.), The Future Envelope 2 – Architecture-Climate-Skin Volume 8. U. Knaack and T. Klein (Eds.), The Future Envelope 1 – A Multidisciplinary Approach Volume 7. M. Eekhout, F. Verheijen and R. Visser (Eds.), Cardboard in Architecture Volume 6. M. Veltkamp, Free Form Structural Design – Schemes, Systems & Prototypes of Structures for Irregular Shaped Buildings Volume 5. L. Bragança, C. Wetzel, V. Buhagiar and L.G.W. Verhoef (Eds.), COST C16 Improving the Quality of Existing Urban Building Envelopes – Facades and Roof Volume 4. R. di Giulio, Z. Bozinovski and L.G.W. Verhoef (Eds.), COST C16 Improving the Quality of Existing Urban Building Envelopes – Structures Volume 3. E. Melgaard, G. Hadjimichael, M. Almeida and L.G.W. Verhoef (Eds.), COST C16 Improving the Quality of Existing Urban Building Envelopes – Needs Volume 2. M.T. Andeweg, S. Brunoro and L.G.W. Verhoef (Eds.), COST C16 Improving the Quality of Existing Urban Building Envelopes – State of the Art Volume 1. M. Crisinel, M. Eekhout, M. Haldimann and R. Visser (Eds.), EU COST C13 Glass and Interactive Building Envelopes – Final Report FREE FORM TECHNOLOGY FROM DELFT Prof. Dr. Mick Eekhout, editor Chair of Product Development TU Delft Co-writers: Mick Eekhout, Barbara van Gelder, Walter Lockefeer, Martijn Veltkamp & Karel Vollers FREE FORM TECHNOLOGY FROM DELFT © 2015 The authors and IOS Press EDITOR Mick Eekhout AUTHORS Mick Eekhout, Barbara van Gelder, Walter Lockefeer, Martijn Veltkamp and Karel Vollers LAYOUT Manuela Schilberg, Saphira Jon, Octatube, Delft ESIGN Sirene Ontwerpers, Rotterdam This book is published online with Open Access by IOS Press and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without prior written permission from the publisher. ISBN 978-1-61499-553-1 (print) ISBN 978-1-61499-554-8 (online) DOI 10.3233/978-1-61499-554-8-i PUBLISHER AND DISTRIBUTOR IOS Press BV Nieuwe Hemweg 6B 1013 BG Amsterdam The Netherlands fax: +31-20-687-0019 e-mail: [email protected] PRINTED IN THE NETHERLANDS PREFACE Mick Eekhout (© Nadine Maas) Free Form technology quickly became a R&D priority in academia and building industries when the fi rst major projects had to be realized in Europe. Initially the applied technology had been poor, as CNC production didn’t manage to catch up with the speedy development of 3D design programs that architects employed. Industry was hesitant to invest in this new fi eld. Some Free Form buildings that in the new millennium got pushed onto the market, had shown serious defaults. Therefore many general contractors feared Free Form designs to turn into Free Form nightmares. Most of the fi rst Free Form building proposals didn’t get realized, like the Wilhelminapier, Rotterdam, of which the budget didn’t suffi ce. The fi sh-like shaped construction designed by Gehry for the interior hall of the Deutsche Genossenschaft Bank in Berlin (Germany), did get built – at great fi nancial loss. It caused Gartner, at the time the leading European façade manufacturer, to virtually go bankrupt and it pushed the take-over by Permasteelisa. The production industries didn’t manage to materialize the proposed curved architectural shapes, so academics of the Chair of Product Development jumped in to jointly develop new technologies. As knowledge and experience grew, the results improved. The Rabin Center in Haifa (Israel), showcased a successful technical development, but commercially at a great loss. Others as the Municipal pavilion at the Floriade, Hoofddorp (NL), the town Hall of Alphen (NL) and the Malmö Green House (Finland) were successful, both technically and fi nancially. Dr. Karel Vollers, after publishing his acclaimed dissertation Twist & Build, headed the Chair’s Free Form technology (aka Blob technology) group projects from 2001 – 2011. The research group consisted of PhD students (Martijn Veltkamp, Walter Lockefeer and Barbara van Gelder) and approx. 50 BSc and MSc students. Mick Eekhout and engineers of his fi rm Octatube, had great impact by contributing their Free Form technology experience. In a decade, knowledge of Free Form technologies spread all over the faculty. Simultaneously, in the research portfolio of the Chair of Product Development, sustainability issues became more important. In 2011, after a R&D portfolio re-arrangement, only the PhD students were left, to continue their projects. The research group was dissolved and with the retirement of prof. Mick Eekhout, the Chair as a whole got terminated. The Free Form technology group’s body of knowledge now is integrated into the section Architectural Engineering. And professor Kas Oosterhuis continues his ‘from-fi le-to- factory’ work approach in his Hyperbody group [www.hyperbody.nl]. Many inspired fi ndings of the Chair of Product Development’s Free Form group are assembled in this book. Additionally the book contains an extensive article taken from Lord of the Wings, written by Mick Eekhout and Sieb Wichers, on the development of the sandwich shell roofs for the Rabin Center, [Reference IOS Press, Amsterdam, 2015, ISBN 9781614995494]. This selection of articles represents our technological contribution to Free Form Architecture. Mick Eekhout Karel Vollers This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS PREFACE - MICK EEKHOUT & KAREL VOLLERS INTRODUCTION - MICK EEKHOUT XI 01 PAST AND FUTURE OF FREE FORM DESIGN - MICK EEKHOUT 1 02 TWO FAILED PROPOSALS: GALLERIA ROTTERDAM AND DG BANK BERLIN - MICK EEKHOUT 15 03 MUNICIPAL FLORIADE PAVILION, HOOFDDORP - MICK EEKHOUT 31 04 SPACE FRAME FOR PROVINCIAL PAVILION FLORIADE - MICK EEKHOUT 45 05 TOWN HALL OF ALPHEN AAN DEN RIJN - MICK EEKHOUT 57 06 GREENHOUSE, MALMÖ - MICK EEKHOUT 73 07 COMPOSITE STRESSED SKIN ROOFS IN TEL AVIV - MICK EEKHOUT 79 08 MORPHOLOGY FOR NON-ORTHOGONAL HIGH-RISES - KAREL VOLLERS 113 09 UPGRADING BUILDING APPEARANCES BY IMPROVED PANE REFLECTIONS - KAREL VOLLERS 133 10 FINDING FREE FORM DESIGN - WALTER LOCKEFEER 141 11 MANAGEMENT OF COMPLEX FREE FORM DESIGN AND ENGINEERING PROCESSES - MICK EEKHOUT & BARBARA VAN GELDER 155 12 CURVED AND TWISTED DELTA RIBS IN FREE FORM TECHNOLOGY - MARTIJN VELTKAMP 175 13 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CLOSING COMMENTS 187 14 EPILOGUE - MICK EEKHOUT 191 INTRODUCTION ‘Free Form Design’ has enjoyed increasing popularity in the recent ‘zero’ decade. Around the turn of the millennium architects discovered sophisticated computer programs with which they were able to design volumes out of the classical vocabulary of the Carthesian grid. Building volumes that they could deform, stretch and manipulate as it were in rubber. The success of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, designed and engineered by Frank O. Gehry and inaugurated in 1997, opened the eyes of the world to the plastic possibilities of Free Form Design. That is, on the side of architects and their admiring clients. Some architects draw up complicated but surprising and attractive Free Form Designs and win design competitions. The next step towards realization is to involve the making industry and the contractors with realising these dreams. They discover that the art of Free Form Designing is a chewing gum invention by the digital designers using standardised design programmes once developed for Hollywood fi lms. These fi lms were virtual realities and did not have to be built. But architecture has to be built in order to be appreciated above the level of the competition scheme. So the thinking about realising Free Form Technology had to start. In the beginning there was no experience and not even a motivation on the making side to join in. The Guggenheim has been built with very traditional materials and methods. But after more designs the desire and logic for an adapted Free Form Technology became apparent. In the practice of Mick Eekhout (in his ‘design & build’ company Octatube Delft) the fi rst experiences with Free Form Designs failed, were aborted, were a disaster or led to unfortunate events as bankruptcy of competing fi rms who took the projects without major Free Form Design experience. One could learn many lessons from these early experiments. This is the main reason why these experiences are shared with the reader in this book. But they also introduced at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Delft around the turn of the millennium the necessity of developing a special Free Form Technology. Developments at the TU Delft were directed towards the topic of architectonical Free Form Designs from the demand side including the contextual considerations and the Blob Technology to be developed from the scientifi c supply side, including the production, material design and processing aspects. At the Department of Building Technology a group of Blob Technology Research was installed in 2001 after the successful (cum laude) dissertation of Dr. Karel Vollers and amidst a number of practical Blob realizations in the Netherlands and abroad by the laboratory cum company of Mick Eekhout. Karel Vollers was appointed as the leader of the Blob group. The group initially worked with Master students in their graduation year, scouting the numerous possibilities in design and technology. In the offi cial Research Assessment of April 2004 on the period 1997 to 2002 the Blobs/ ICT program received a high appraisal as a research program.