MIDTERM_03092009

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The retractable roof at Weitra Castle in Austria.

The retractable roof at Fortress Kufstein in Austria by Kugel & Rein Architects & Engineers.

So lately I've been researching fabric tensile structures and hang gliders and experimenting with physical models. Those still need to be documented and will be posted shortly. However, I've been lacking a specific folding technique that will transform the structure from house to glider. I started looking more closely at wings in general and have found myself researching compliance hinges. Those are the kind of joint connections found in umbrellas and our muscles where in order to move one part, an entire series of joints has to move in unison. I've also found some precedent studies which do what i'm interested in and it would be interesting if i could make it work in mine.

This is the "Tree of Life" project developed by Basak Altan and Mark Schirmer of San Diego for Architecture for Humanity to be used by refugees of the Kosovo genocide. Although the project doesn't use compliance hinges you can still see how the structure could open and close like an umbrella if designed with the proper structural systems.

Architecture for Humanity also developed a project for Oxfam for refugees in Ethiopia. A deployable structure that works similarily to an umbrella. This project however was never realized because of cost ($30,000 per unit) and the reliance on trucks, aircraft, or other large vehicles, as well as skilled workers to assemble the project.

A project with a somewhat similiar retractable features is found in the retractable roof system of the Montreal Olympic Stadium.

Humans have resorted to temporary shelters as long as civilization has existed. The first humans were constantly on the move and their homes were always temporary. In modern times, temporary shelter is usually not by choice. It is often a result of poverty, civil unrest that usually leads to refugees , or an environmental disaster. Because humans continue to deplete the earth's resources, we may one day be faced with a social evolution in which humans are continually on the move and can no longer stay in one place for long.

Above is a picture from the Great Earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco. People were given tents provided by the government and lived in these homes until they could be relocated to other one room wood frame homes. Today similiar bland-looking inefficient and unsustainable tents are provided to refugees all over the world.




The goal is to redesign temporary shelters into a feasible off-the shelf product that is lightweight, cost efficient, durable, fashionable and sustainable. We decorate our homes according to our own personal styles and tastes. If our home is on the move and more cost efficient than a permanent place, then our own personal taste has to be developed within the structure itself and not in objects within it.


I'm interested in designing a fabric tension model that can fold and unfold just like origami or another similiar method.



The material must have the strength and durability that will allow it to last for constant travel and movement. For an intial material research I turned to BMW's GINA concept car. However, i would also like the fabric to have the free flowing and lightweight qualities of real fabric. Something that is not stiff and hard but soft and expandable.



Travel will be possible on "wings" of the vehclohom through a glide'n'slide concept in which the structure could be used as a hang glider or a sled depending on the conditions. When the structure folds up it will do so into these "wings" which can also be worn on the back not only as garment but also as a high fashion statement.




I've also begun to look at butterfly wings not only for patterns but for their structural organization. The veins of the wings expand in intricate ways in order to support the wing and thereby also causing specific pattern differentials. What can this mean to the entire vehclohom structure not only in terms of organization but also in terms of folding and unfolding?