Entwine is the product of the 2017 Design/Build workshop within the Emergent Technologies and Design Programme at the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, supported by TRADA, Hanson Plywood and Media 10. The pavilion is derived from extensive research on plywood composite material systems, specifically on the fields of curved plywood tensegrity. The project’s core aim is to explore the relationships in process between material performance, design and fabrication.
The understanding of tensegrity systems and plywood behaviour resulted in the design of three independent doubly-curved plywood structures, coexisting in equilibrium by support from connecting cables. The spatial arrangement consists of three interconnected subspaces characterised by a different material prevalence, permeability, and form with which the visitor can experience and interact.
The system presents a structural challenge for which the EmTech team has built upon the use of a wide range of computational design and analysis tools along with the production of prototypes and a 1:1 model. The design to fabrication process includes a feedback loop between an initial parametric model and computational FEA tools to evaluate structural behaviour of proposed surfaces and cable arrangements, which reinform design improvements.
The final prototype has been assembled and exhibited at Timber Expo that took place in Birmingham during 10-12 October 2017.
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