Robotically woven hexagonal pavilion heralds revolution in architecture

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An exciting fusion between robotics and architecture is on the rise, and the potential of digital fabrication is wonderfully expressed in the stunning Elytra Filament Pavilion. Designed by a team at the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/university-of-stuttgart" target="_blank">University of Stuttgart</a>, the robotically woven structure is now on view at Germany’s <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vitra-design-museum" target="_blank">Vitra Design Museum</a> after its <a href="http://inhabitat.com/robots-weave-an-insect-inspired-carbon-fiber-forest-in-london/" target="_blank">premiere at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London</a>. The experimental pavilion is an artistic exploration between architecture, engineering, and biomimicry principles, weaving carbon fiber into fibrous structures inspired by beetles.

A computer algorithm determined the pavilion’s design, which was then produced with the help of a robot.

An exciting fusion between robotics and architecture is on the rise, and the potential of digital fabrication is wonderfully expressed in the stunning Elytra Filament Pavilion. Designed by a team at the <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/university-of-stuttgart" target="_blank">University of Stuttgart</a>, the robotically woven structure is now on view at Germany’s <a href="http://inhabitat.com/tag/vitra-design-museum" target="_blank">Vitra Design Museum</a> after its <a href="http://inhabitat.com/robots-weave-an-insect-inspired-carbon-fiber-forest-in-london/" target="_blank">premiere at the Victoria & Albert Museum in London</a>. The experimental pavilion is an artistic exploration between architecture, engineering, and biomimicry principles, weaving carbon fiber into fibrous structures inspired by beetles.

Taking cues from the forewing shells of flying beetles known as elytra, the computer-programmed Kuka robot spun resin-soaked glass and carbon fibers into hexagonal scaffolds and densely wound fibers into the canopy.

Installed as part of the Vitra’s “Hello, Robot. Design between Human and Machine” exhibition, the 200-square-meter Elytra Filament Pavilion shows off the power of robotics in architecture.

The entire pavilion weighs 2.5 tonnes and is “exceptionally lightweight,” weighing less than 9 kilograms per square meter.

The University of Stuttgart’s Institute for Computational Design (ICD) and the Institute of Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) developed a unique robotic fabrication technique to create the pavilion’s 40 modular hexagonal units, each of which weigh 45 kilograms and take about three hours to make.

Elytra Filament Pavilion