Form Finding Lab – Princeton University

Welcome

By 2050, 70% of the world population will live in cities. Today already 50% live in an urban environment and produce more than 75% of all C0₂ emissions. Finding intelligent and efficient ways to provide for more people with fewer resources will make cities more resilient to manmade and natural disasters and reduce their impact on the environment. Our long-term research goal is to transform the engineering design framework for a future-oriented built urban environment. Our research program addresses the following two core questions: What is the relationship between form and efficiency in civil structures?; and With increasing pressure on the preservation of natural resources, how can design theories and tools match untested sculptural ideas to material-efficient, constructible structures?

Please feel free to get in touch if you are interested in pursuing collaboration.

Prof. S. Adriaenssens
Associate Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Princeton University

PRIZE: DEMI FANG ’17 WINS SEAS MacCracken AWARD and CEE David W. Carmichael Prize

Class Day and Graduation. It was such a pleasuring working with these multi-talented students. I am delighted that Demi Fang won the MacCracken Award and the David W. Carmichael Prize. Well deserved!

ELECTED: EXECUTIVE COUNCIL IASS

Prof. Adriaenssens has been elected to the Executive Committee of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures.

SPECIAL ISSUE: New Directions for Shell Structures

Philippe Block (ETHZ) and I co-edited a special issue on how key challenges such as geometry, design and analysis methods, construction and new materials, can be overcome to bring thin shell structures into the 21st Century. IASS Journal, Vol. 85 (2017) 1

SEMINAR: FUTURE OF DESIGN

Bill Washabaugh (Hypersonic) and I talked about how biomimicry is key to the future of Design 'Future of Design 2017', IABSE US group, Many Cantor Center, April 2017.

PUBLICATION: DESIGN OF THREE HYPAR ROOFS MADE OF GAUDUA BAMBOO

T. Michiels, L. Lu, S. Archer, S. Adriaenssens, G. Tressera, ‘Structural Analysis, joint characterization and parametrical design of a set of hypar gridshell roofs made from Guadua bamboo’, Journal of the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures, Special Issue: New directions for shells, vol. 58, pp.95-104, 2017.

YOUNG WOMEN’S CONFERENCE

Tomorrow we share our excitement about our research an biomimetic adaptive facades at the Young Women's Conference. We will meet with hundreds of young women aspiring to achieve a future career in STEM! Princeton University, Frist Building 23rd March 8am - noon

LECTURE: SHELL ZEITGEIST: ANDRE PADUART AND MARCEL BROODTHAERS

Come an join me. Tuesday, March 28, 6:30–8pm at Hauser & Wirth Bookshop and Roth Bar, 548 West 22nd Street, New York, NY 10011.

TedX: Designing for strength, efficiency and beauty

In December 2016, Professor Adriaenssens gave aTedX talk “Designing for strength, economy, and beauty” at the GeorgeSchool, PA. Her idea is that our bridges and buildings should derive their strength and stiffness not through material mass but from their curved shape, generated by the flow of forces. Like it on Youtube

LANDSDOWNE VISITOR: Resilient and Sustainable Structural Forms

I am very much looking forward to my visit as a Landsdowne visitor to Victoria University, Canada. The Lansdowne Lecture "Resilient and Sustainable Structural Forms" will be delivered on Tuesday 7th of February, David Turpin Building, A-Wing, Room A110 at 3pm.

FUNDING: BARTLETT COLLABORATION WITH THE AMERICAN UNIVERSITY OF CAIRO

We are delighted to start a research collaboration with Prof. Nordenson (PU, School of Architectiure) and Prof. Abdelmohsen from the American University in Cairo on adaptive facades. This project is funded by the Bartlett’s Fund for Science and Engineering Research Collaboration.

PUBLICATION: LA FORM IMPORTA – OUR FIRST PUBLICATION IN SPANISH!

Master builders throughout history have made significant strides in exploiting forms to enclose three-dimensional spaces or to bridge voids. We present three studies that showcase the development of such techniques, which when craftfully manipulated, result in surprising shapes for structurally efficient footbridges, roofs and barriers.

PUBLICATION: BRICK / SYSTEMS

The anthology BRICKS / SYSTEMS, includes contributions by renowned practicing architects, directors of research groups and architectural experimental ’young guns’. "Dialectic Form" by Prof. Adriaenssens

SEMINAR: CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY, BETTER URBAN FORMS

On Monday 12th of December, I will be giving a talk on "Better Urban Forms" at the Department of Engineering, Cambridge University, UK.

MEDIA: COLLABORATION SAO PAULO UNIVERSITY

Our collaboration with Prof. Pauletti from Sao Paulo University is in its second year. We are happy that the impact of this collaboration is discussed on the PU homepage today.

TedX: Form Follows Force

TEDX: Next Saturday I am presenting my “Idea Worth Spreading.” at George School, PA. The construction industry is one of most resource‐intensive sectors, and yet our urban infrastructure continues to be built in the massive tradition in which strength is pursued through material mass. In contrast, I have focused my research on structural curved forms.

MEDIA: Resilient, Smart Cities

Our work on resilient, smart, livable cities is featured in "Discovery Research at Princeton". "Like forms in nature, engineering professor Sigrid Adriaenssens's structures often show striking curves, from spiraling earthen walls and arching steel footbridges, to shell-shaped pavilions that keep out direct sunlight while admitting scattered light and breezes." Bennet McIntosh