A team of researchers led by Achim Menges of the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Jan Knippers of the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart has unveiled a new pavilion made using a novel combination of bio-based materials.

The hybrid structural system behind the ITECH Research Pavilion 2024 is composed of timber and natural flax fiber polymer composites (or NFPCs). Menches and his colleagues were guided by recent research into fiber-polymer composites. The complete assembly works via the compressive strength of timber and tensile properties.

The pavilion was erected within the university’s Stadtgarten. It covers an area of roughly 484 square feet and weighs almost 2,130 pounds. The pavilion's structural capacity was shown to be capable of withstanding 1.5 times its own weight and 1.5 times the outside wind load.

The design itself used flax fiber rovings, three-layered softwood timber plates, and hardwood struts for construction, which took exactly two days plus another week for its roof membrane and foundation to finished. 

Roof plates are composed of a set of timber struts fixed under a timber plate, a fiber cord, and a fiber mesh. This system allows the timber plates and radially-arranged struts to be primarily under compression and bottom fiber cord under tension. The final spatial interplay between timber and fiber then illustrates the physical distributions at play in a "constant interplay of material interdependence and collaboration."

Another partially (56%) bio-based resin was employed for the first time in a project of this scale, offering further encouragement towards progress on a 100% bio-based future product’s use in buildings at an architectural scale. 

The pavilion, which can be later disassembled, was fabricated using an innovative dual robot winding setup inside the ICD's Computational Construction Lab (CCL). The team notes this is the first use of a parallel winding setup to fabricate a full-scale structure.  

The team stated finally their work "defies conventional ideas of form and structure, resulting in a novel yet grounded material and architectural experience."

"As a research demonstrator, the pavilion represents a step toward a new biomaterial culture that integrates the strength of timber with natural fibers into a cohesive structural system," they continue. "By leveraging the complementary properties of these two materials, the research aims to address sustainable construction solutions and expand the design possibilities of bio-based hybrids in architecture."

Altogether, this builds upon a number of past pavilions developed in a series of collaborations between the ICD and ITKE. 

Last year’s Leibniz Prize winner was joined by the ITKE's Tzu-Ying Chen and Yanan Guo and Rebeca Duque Estrada and Fabian Kannenberg from the ICD.