Timber gridshell study

A thought experiment in timber gridshells, kept open for further work.

Role: Form-finding and structural analysis
Status: Self-directed study
Material: Timber

Perspective plot of a timber gridshell mesh with its support ring marked in red — One of the forms: the gridshell regridded over a belly-shaped support ring, marked in red.

This is a self-directed thought experiment in timber gridshells. I use it to try out forms, and the tools that carry a form-found shape into structural analysis: a Python analysis pipeline, a cross-check in RFEM, and studies of partial form optimisation and of combining stone and timber.

Plot of the first buckling mode of the gridshell — The first buckling mode of the same form.

The timber gridshell experiment on this site uses the same idea at a small scale: a hanging net found by relaxation, then turned over into a shell.

Next Lah Contemporary, Bled