The research-based design studio Bridge the Gap is carried out as a collaboration between the TT Professorship for Structural Design and the TT Professorship for Digital Fabrication. In the design studio computational tools for structural design and novel robotic fabrication, technologies are used to design and build a lightweight pedestrian bridge at the Deutsche Bundesbank in Munich. By combining digital design methods with digital fabrication processes such as robotic assembly and 3D printing, we will explore the implications of these design and fabrication technologies on architecture. At the end of the semester, a winning design will be chosen, with the possibility to realise the project in 2023.

The use of computational tools for structural design in combination with digital fabrication technologies will be addressed on both a theoretical and design-based level, by investigating the architectural design space and future fields of applications, and a practical level, by testing possible fabrication workflows using physical prototypes at different scales.

In the design studio, computational form-finding methods for structural design, which enable effective use of material resources, will be developed by taking advantage of the interplay of form and forces in structural systems made of linear members. In this context, the use of geometry-based design approaches such as graphic statics applied to parametric modelling will be investigated and applied to the design of the pedestrian bridge at the Deutsche Bundesbank in Munich.

Moreover, the design studio will integrate the seminar Robotic Fabrication in Architecture. As part of the seminar, two digital fabrication techniques will be examined: (1) robot assembly with manually placed mechanical connectors using a robot setup with two UR10e collaborative robots and (2) manual assembly with 3D printed nodes. An introduction to the topic of digital fabrication in architecture will be given in a 3-day workshop at additive tectonics, a subsidiary of the FIT Additive Manufacturing Group.

Industry Partner:
additive tectonics
Bollinger + Grohmann Ingenieure

Client:
Deutsche Bundesbank