The agenda of this project was to create a double curved form/structure from wood by controlling the cutting pattern of plywood which allows it to bend in multiple directions.

The global shape was derived from a small geometry exploration done by students of Feng Chia University in Taichung City, Taiwan as part of regular curriculum of 4th year undergraduate course called Parametric Design and Digital Fabrication. The assignment was to generate a specific form utilizing simple geometry such as a cube, sphere, or tube, and to apply different rules of transformation in order to create variations of double-curved surfaces. The selected option was one of the shapes that was both feasible and challenging to translate into a 1:1 scale pavilion.

The structure is about 1.5m wide, 3.9m long and 2.7m high, consisting of a substructure which defines the shape, and skin made of 120 plywood panels which all slightly differ from one another in size, shape, and most importantly, by cutting pattern.

Digital fabrication tools used to complete this project were CNC machine and laser cutter. CNC machine was used to produce the substructure elements while the skin panels were cut by laser cutter.

Substructure consists of 2 categories of elements: central beam and 13 transversal ribs – the rings. The beam is assembled from 4 layers of plywood and cut in overlapping segments, while each ring consists of 2 parts so that they could be assembled around the beam.

The skin is primarily divided into 12 segments (segments A to L); each segment being positioned in between one pair of rings (i.e. segment A is in between rings R1 and R2). Additionally, every segment consists of 10 panels (i.e. A1-A10) resulting in 120 panels in total. The entire structure is elevated from the ground and supported by a wooden stand.

Completion year: 2016

Built area (m2 or sqft): 9.7 m2

Project location :Coordinates: 24.179270, 120.647065

Google Map link: https://goo.gl/maps/PGXfiT34fHs

Manufacturers/products: Plywood 240x120/1.8 cm [substructure] , Wooden beams 4x8/480 cm [stand], Plywood 5mm [skin]

Photographers: Christopher Sjoberg, Edmond Grieve, Matyas Gutai