Home - Form Finding Lab - Princeton University Form Finding Lab

Welcome

By 2050, 70% of the world population will live in cities. Today already 50% lives in an urban environment and produces more than 75% of all C0₂ emissions. Finding intelligent and efficient ways to provide 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?; an 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
Assistant Professor
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Princeton University

TALK: SHELLS REVISITED – Learning from the Gothic Master Builders

Philippe Block, Associate Professor, School of Architecture at ETH Zurich, Switzerland will present new computational form-finding and optimization approaches for exploring three-dimensional equilibrium shell structures. The presentation takes place in the PU CEE Spring Research Seminar Series "Structure, Form and Motion." Thursday 19th March at 4h30pm Bowen Hall 222.

TALK: How a historian and a civil engineer look at landscape and infrastructure.

In context of the Princeton-Mellon Initiative Urban Studies Research Seminar at Princeton, Sigrid Adriaenssens and Vera Candiani will be showcasing how practitioners from different disciplines interrogate components of our built and unbuilt environments. All are welcome.N-107, March 13, 2015, 12-13:30

PUBLICATION: A unified stochastic framework for robust topology optimization of continuum and truss-like structures.

Richardson, J.N., Coelho, R.F., Adriaenssens, S. (2013). 'A unified stochastic framework for robust topology optimization of continuum and truss-like structures.' In : Engineering Optimization doi: 10.1080/0305215X.2015.1011152

TALK: Embodied computation and models of design

Axel Kilian, Assistant Professor at Princeton University School of Architecture will talk about his latest research focus on embodied computation, the continuation of computation in the physical realm. The presentation takes place in the PU CEE Spring Research Seminar Series "Structure, Form and Motion." Thursday 19th Feb at 4h30pm Friend Center Room 006.

TALK: CREATING AN INCLUSIVE CLASSROOM

McGraw Center Faculty Fellows Bill Gleason (Professor and Chair of English Department) and myself will be leading a conversation about how to create an inclusive classroom. Tuesday 17th February 2015.

NSA shell on cover of IASS Journal

The gridshell over the courtyard of the Dutch Maritime Museum features on the cover of the Journal of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures. The form finding of the actual shell was carried out for Ney and Partners (sa) with our bending algorithm implemented in a dynamic relaxation solver.

PUBLICATION: Form finding and analysis of inflatable dams using dynamic relaxation

Streeter, M; Rhode-Barbarigos, L; Adriaenssens, S. (2014). ‘Form finding and analysis of inflatable dams using dynamic relaxation’. In: Appl. Math. Comput. doi:10.1016/j.amc.2014.12.054

PUBLICATION: Nonlinear Elastic In-Plane Buckling of Shallow Truss Arches

Halpern, A., B.; Adriaenssens, S. (2014). ‘Nonlinear Elastic In-Plane Buckling of Shallow Truss Arches.’ In: ASCE Journal of Bridge Engineering doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)BE.1943-5592.0000725

PUBLICATION: In-plane optimization of truss arch footbridges using serviceability and stability objective functions

Halpern, A.B., Adriaenssens, S., "In-plane optimization of truss arch footbridges using stability and serviceability objective functions", (2014) Structural and Multidisciplinary Optimization,DOI 10.1007/s00158

FUNDING: DAYLIGHT HARVESTING THROUGH GEOMETRIC BUILT FORM

We have been awarded the Wilke Family Fund. Our research, positioned at the intersection of computer graphics, architectural design and structural engineering, brings together existing technologies in an innovative daylight harvesting surface.

FUNDING: Spatial Adaptable Rapidly Erectable Building Systems

The Danish Agency for Science Technology and Innovation has awarded our proposal to form an interdisciplinary partnership between researchers from USA, Republic of Korea and Denmark, and to create a platform for knowledge sharing of state-of the-art research in design of spatial adaptable rapidly erectable building systems.

TALK: STRUCTURAL DESIGN AND FOOTBRIDGES

On December 5th, Lucile Walgenwitz and James Richardson, structural designers at Guy Nordenson Associates, will talk about their experiences designing and building special structures. Join us if you are interested! E 225 11am.

Faculty Fellow: Mc Graw Center for Teaching and Learning

The Mc Graw Center for Teaching and Learning has invited me to become a Faculty Fellow. The Fellows convene their colleagues from across the campus for discussions about teaching and learning, and participate in other events and workshops around pedagogy. I am delighted to be part of this initiative!

TALK: Tensegrity engineering: a journey to integrate structure and control design

Bob Skelton, Professor from UC San Diego will give a talk about his work on tensegrity and control design. Join us Thursday 20th November 4h30pm in Bowen Hall, Auditorium 222

TALK: New engineering materials and methods into the “country of the future”, Brazil

Knut Stockhusen, an architectural engineer from the Schlaich Bergermann Partnership, will talk about the new materials (membrane, ETFE) and systems (spoke wheel principle) brought into Brazil for the 2014 World Cup Stadia as well as the challenges arising from language, cultural disparities, “tropicalisation” and differences in the design process. Nov 21, 2014 11am -12pm Mc Cormick Hall 106

PRIZE: Julia Wilcots wins the Moles Scholarship.

The Moles Scholarships Fund provides scholarships to academically qualified and deserving students. This year on of the Scholarships goes to Julia! Congratulations!