At the 100th anniversary celebration of Frei Otto at ILEK in Stuttgart, I had the honor of giving a keynote lecture titled “Formed by Forces, Framed for Humans.” I didn’t expect to receive three unforgettable gifts.
The first was the profound experience of being part of Frei Otto’s community and legacy—gathering with people from around the world inspired by his visionary work.
The second was a mesmerizing performance, “Unfolding Umbrellas.” at StadtPalais Museum für Stuttgart. This live piece celebrated Frei Otto’s explorations of movement, structure, and form. The careful opening of 1976 Pink Floyd stage umbrellas, set to group’s music played by Stuttgart musicians, was a powerful tribute to Frei Otto’s bridge between architecture and pop culture. It deeply resonated with my own work on performance and nets.
The third gift was free online access to all the IL publications—many of which I’ve collected in hard copy over the years. A generous and meaningful gesture from a place that continues to advance Frei Otto’s spirit of innovation and generosity
Exhibit: Alternative Skies at the Venice Architecture Biennale, Italy
We’re pleased to share that our latest paper, “Numerical modeling of cantilevered bigon arm mechanics under gravity,” by Axel Larsson @axla.io and Sigrid Adriaenssens is now published Open Access in the Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids (link in bio)
In this work, we investigate the stability regimes of reconfigurable bigon arms under gravitational loading—offering new insights into multi-stable structural systems.
