Home « Form Finding Lab - Princeton University Form Finding Lab

Welcome

The question should not be “can this structure be built” but rather “should it be built”? Or in addition to safety, stability, serviceability, are elegance, efficiency and economics also taken into account as key factors in the structural design process? An approach that comprises all these parameters requires out-of-the-box thinking for each design project. Civil engineers should use knowledge, ability, experience, fantasy and intuition to find an optimal and unique structural shape for a given set of boundary conditions.

The search for the optimal durable shape is the recurring theme of our research group. Our projects include structural optimization techniques for complex curved surfaces driven by digital fabrication techniques, development of new structural systems, interaction between tension structures and shaping elements and finally restoration and upgrading methodologies for historic “form follows force” structures with a permanent focus on life cycle thinking.

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

FEATURE: RUMOER TU DELFT

Rumoer, the periodical by the student association for building technology of TU Delft (the Netherlands), gives a succinct overview of our work at the Form Finding Lab in an article "Shaping better civil structures". http://www.praktijkverenigingbout.nl/shaping-better-civil-structures-sigrid-adriaenssens-princeton-university-featured-article-rumoer-56

FEATURE: Discovery – Research at Princeton

Our site-specific shading structures feature in Princeton's Research Issue http://discovery.princeton.edu/2013/10/31/site-specific-shades-offer-sun-protection/

PRE-ORDER BOOK: SHELLS FOR ARCHITECTURE

Our book "Shells for Architecture: form finding and optimization" will be published in Spring 2014 and is available for pre-order at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415840606/.

JOURNAL PUBLICATION: APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS

Siu, S., Rhode-Barbarigos, L., Wagner, S., Adriaenssens, S. (2013). ‘Dynamic relaxation study and experimental verification of dielectric-elastomer minimum-energy structures’. In: Applied Physics Letters, 103, 17, doi: 10.1063/1.4826884.

JOURNAL PUBLICATIONS: NERVI in IASS Journal

The September volume of the Journal of the International Association of Shell and Spatial Structures, features no less than three of our research papers on the Italian master builder Pier Luigi Nervi(1891-1979). .

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: ICAMA 2013

In collaboration with Prof. Barnes (University of Bath, UK), we present our engineering feasibility studies for large span tubular network bridges for congested urban centers at the International Conference on Adaptation and movement in Architecture ICAMA2013, Toronto Canada, October 11th.

CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: Structural Membranes 2013

On Thursday 10th of October, we are invited to present our work on Bending-Active Systems at a special session at the IV International Conference on Textile Composites and Inflatable Structures: Structural Membranes, Munich, Germany.

KEYNOTE LECTURE: DESIGN MODELING SYMPOSIUM BERLIN 2013

On Monday 30th of September, we give a keynote lecture "Deriving Bending Active Forms" at the Design Modeling Symposium Berlin 2013 - Rethinking Prototyping at University of the Arts, Berlin.

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CONFERENCE PRESENTATION: IASS 2013 Beyond the limits of man

We are at the IASS 2013 Symposium in Wroclaw (Poland), home to Max Berg's Centennial Hall. Our presentations range from a discussion form-finding and buckling optimization of stability-sensitive structures to elastic splines to the engineering in the works of Pier Luigi Nervi. 09.23 until 09.27

FEATURE: Princeton Alumni Weekly

Sweet Thesis, A Master's project made of chocolate. Read more about Alex's project in Princeton Alumni Weekly, september 18,2013, p.13

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FEATURE: LIVESCIENCE Sweet Success: Chocolate Structure Whets Appetite for Innovation

Sweet Success: Chocolate Structure Whets Appetite for Innovation On-line Science magazine LIVESCIENCE writes about our chocolate pavilion http://www.livescience.com/38578-chocolate-pavilion.html

SUN SHELL

Annually, 1.3 million Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer, currently representing more than 50% of all cancers in the US. We have developed a custom tailored sun shade shell that can be delivered to schools, child care and other outdoor recreational centers. Grad Student Matt Horner (lying under the shell) has just completed the first prototype.

TALK: DESIGN SPACE EXPLORATION BY STRUCTURAL OPTIMIZATION

Visiting Prof. R. Coelho (Universite Libre de Belgique, Belgium) will present his work on geometry and topology optimization of trusses and grid shells. Thursday July 18th, 120m in E219.

ALLISON VISITS BRIDGES IN FRANCE WITH THEIR DESIGNER MICHEL VIRLOGEUX

PhD student Allison Halpern recently had the opportunity to travel to France to visit the Millau Viaduct, the world’s tallest bridge, and the Terenez Bridge, the first curved cable-stayed bridge in France and the world record holder for the longest main span for curved cable-stayed bridges.

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BEN AND HIS TEAM REALISE GRIDSHELL ON SINGAPORE CAMPUS

You might remember Ben Sitler, class of 2010. Today Ben has realized his first “real” grid shell at the Singapore University of Technology and Design Campus as part of the ARUP Singapore team. This spectacular project involved students and practitioners and features in the ASCE Journal. http://www.asce.org/CEMagazine/ArticleNs.aspx?id=23622326526 July 2013

welcome prof. Coelho, Mariam and Denisa!

This summer we have the pleasure of welcoming Prof. R. Coelho (Universite Libre de Belgique, Belgium) as well as Mariam Wahed and Denisa Buzatu, two undergraduate students to work with us in our Lab!