IV. RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS
The first aim to develop this research is to present a structur-
al membrane that works in conjunction with isolated bent
compression members.
This is the starting point and the north of this master thesis. As
it was stated above, the whole purpose is find other topologies to
apply into structural membranes that doesn’t belong to the stab-
lished existing types systems: as self-supporting frame structure
and air-inflated membrane structures. Until now the first struc-
ture that qualify fo r this task is the “Moom pavilion” designed by
Kazujiro Kojima.
Another important concern is about fabrication and optimiza-
tion. Our hypothesis also stated the possibility to use the largest
quantity of compression members with the same size, by pursuing
to reduce costs in industrial fabrication and time in the building
process.
The fundamental questions of this thesis are:
- Is it possible to design structural membrane that works in con-
juction with isolated bent compression members?
- Is it possible to develop a system that could be applied in several
architectural typologies enclosures (Dome, ellipsoidal vault, toroi-
dal vault, etc)?
- Is it possible keep the same size in the proposal planks (com-
pression members)?
- How suitable is for free-form architecture?
Below we will give some clues about the methodology used and
the experimentation stage.
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