Upside Down Buildings

What

A day of drop-in workshops as part of Open-City’s Archikids Structure Rocks scheme – educational sessions for target age group of 5-11 year olds. The workshop explores the form-finding of shell structures tracing an engineering lineage between 17th century English scientist Robert Hooke, through early 20th century Spanish architect Antoni Gaudi, to the late 20th century Swiss engineer Heinz Isler.

“As hangs a flexible cable so, inverted, stand the touching pieces of an arch” – Robert Hooke

The workshop demonstrates the form-finding potential of tension-only cables and fabrics to define the geometry of efficient compression-only structures by forming shells out of plaster. Different support conditions and loads are simulated to generate different shell forms.

Team

Organisers and tutors: Jens + Laura + Phil + Dan

With

Open-City, as part of the Archikids Festival Structure Rocks series

Support

Open-City

Media