SmartNodes Pavilion

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RESEARCH BACKGROUND: The SmartNodes pavilion addresses the design and delivery of complex building forms; structures that are currently limited by manufacturing and construction constraints. Architects, designers and engineers collaborated to improve digital workflows in the design of doubly- curved strucutres, most signficantly shell structures. They developed shared parametric models that allow structural, architectural and design issues to be considered in parallel. RESEARCH CONTRIBUTION: The SmartNodes pavilion addresses frame structures for such complex building forms. These frames are composed of a network of members which meet at nodes. Construction of such forms commonly requires the fabrication of customised beams and node components. This research proposes a system of highly-customised node components which are manufactured through additive (3D printing) processes. These small but unique parts enable the standardisation of other components, simple straight beams running between connection plates. The design of these nodes is further informed through optimisation algorithms which minimise material volume for manufacture. As such, trade-offs between the complexity of building form and manufacturing are significantly reduced. The pavilion demonstrates a novel example of such a freeform structure and a workflow for delivering all components for a large-scale prototype. RESEARCH SIGNIFICANCE: The project has been invited to exhibit at prestigious national and international events that reach a broad audience of academic peers, industry partners and the public. These include: Engineers' Australia Convention, Melbourne (Nov 2014); REAL2015, Fort Mason Centre, San Francisco (25-27 February 2015) for 3D sensing, making and visualisation industry leaders and innovators; and International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS), Amsterdam (19-23 August 2015). The pavilion was selected via peer review for inclusion in IASS conference and exhibition.