Adaptive Pneumatic Shell Structures Feedback-driven robotic stiffening of inflated extensible membranes and further rigidification for architectural applications

The paper presents the development of a design framework that aims to reduce the complexity of designing and fabricating free-form inflatables structures, which often results in the generation of very complex geometries. In previous research the form-finding potential of actuated and constrained inflatable membranes has already been investigated however without a focus on fabrication (Otto 1979). Consequently, in established design-to-fabrication approaches, complex geometry is typically post-rationalized into smaller parts and are finally fabricated through methods, which need to take into account cutting pattern strategies and material constraints. The design framework developed and presented in this paper aims to transform a complex design process (that always requires further post-rationalization) into a more integrated one that simultaneously unfolds in a physical and digital environment -hence the term cyber-physical (Menges 2015). At a full scale, a flexible material (extensible membrane, e.g. latex) is actuated through inflation and modulated through additive stiffening processes, before being completely rigidified with glass fibers and working as a thin-shell under compression.