Faculty of Architecture opens an exhibition of cobwebs designed by students

An exhibition of installations created by fourth-year students of the Form and Structure Specialisation in parametric design was recently opened. The students (GergelyBarta, Bianka Bartucz, Viktória Csende Réka, Krisztina Farkas, Eszter Ferencz, Levente Karádi, Kinga Kocsis, Edina Eszter Lipcsei, Janka Mátis, Hunor Rajhóczki, Péter Sütő, Anna Tóth and Levente Varga) worked in teams of 3-4 to design and build a formally exciting, strength-correct, pre-stressed cobweb-like structure within a steel cube frame, each with an edge length of 3 metres.

The installations are structures of high statical overdeterminacy that only achieve their final, tight form when the realized structure is an exact replica of the designed model. This meant that the planned form was only complete when the last rope was pulled and the last fixings placed - in the worst case, it was only then that errors and inaccuracies emerged.

At the opening of the exhibition, Tamás Ther, associate professor at the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures and one of the lecturers of the subject, praised the students' courage and creativity in taking the first steps of the design to its realisation within four months. He recalled that during the semester, the planning and redesigning process continued until the finalisation of the detail plans, as feasibility ultimately affects the initial conditions.

This constantly changing set of conditions can be managed using Rhino3D+Grasshopper parametric design software. Within this program, each team defined the key design parameters and the algorithm to generate the spatial model. From the accurate spatial model, the pattern of the surface structures and the exact length of each section of the rope mesh structures could be determined.

Students were supported during their project work by Eszter Fehér, Associate Professor at the Department of Morphology and Geometric Modelling and Péter Lassu, Assistant Professor at the Department of Graphics, Form and Design, but Mr Ther also underlined that the exhibition would not have been possible without the cooperation and support of the professional partners. The steel frame was supplied by KÉSZ Ipari Gyártó Ltd. and bim.GROUP Ltd., while the rope and netting for the tensioned structures were provided by Orsó'95 Ltd. and Kötéltechnika Ltd. The corner nodes of the dismantlable frames were made in the Adolf Czakó laboratory of the Department of Mechanics, Materials and Structures.

András Balázs Kocsis, business development manager at bim.GROUP, pointed out that parametric design is gaining ground, since optimizing structures can lead to more beautiful and economical structures. He added that, just as the students had experienced the importance of the design of individual details in the creation of installations, the same considerations had an impact on the geometry and strength behaviour of the entire structure when designing the National Athletics Centre's rope-net structure.

Richárd Rajnai, managing director of Kötéltechnika, discussed the possible forms of future collaboration with the lecturers. He showed similar structures they had produced and built, with plenty of room for further collaboration in design, research, strength scaling and proper construction.

The exhibition is currently on show on the 3rd floor of Building K, in the Department of Graphics, Form and Design, room K3.22, on Mondays between 9 AM and 2 PM or by appointment.

Rector's Office, Communications Department
photos: László Szűcs