HygroShell ITECH Research Pavilion, Chicago Architecture Biennial 2023

At the nexus of complex ecological, socioeconomic, and sociocultural crises, the built environment urgently requires a fundamentally new approach to design, engineering, and construction. As we shift from an era of energy abundance and industrial materials to one of energy scarcity and natural materials, material intelligence will become synonymous with construction logic. HygroShell, which makes its debut at the Chicago Architecture Biennial 2023, is at the forefront of this paradigm shift, harnessing the previously undesirable hygroscopic material properties of wood to create form and structure, exploring a new kind of bio-based and bio-inspired architecture. HygroShell was developed as a research pavilion within the context the ITECH Master’s program and the Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture (IntCDC), highlighting the importance and potentials of a cross-disciplinary and diverse research and educational environment. Project Team: Institute for Computational Design and Construction - ICD . Dylan Wood, Laura Kiesewetter, Prof. Achim Menges Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design - ITKE . Axel Körner, Kenryo Takahashi, Prof. . Jan Knippers Concept Development, System Development, Fabrication & Construction Andre Aymonod, Wai Man Chau, Min Deng, Fabian Eidner, Maxime Fouillat, Hussamaldeen Gomaa, Yara Karazi, Arindam Katoch, Oliver Moldow, Ioannis Moutevelis, Xi Peng, Yuxin Qiu, Alexander Reiner, Sarvenaz Sardari, Edgar Schefer, Selin Sevim, Ali Shokri, Sai Praneeth Singu, Xin Sun, Ivana Trifunovic, Alina Turean, Aaron Wagner, Chia-Yen Wu, Weiqi Xie, Shuangying Xu, Esra Yaman, and Pengfei Zhang With support of: Katja Rinderspacher, Simon Bechert, Michael Schneider, Michael Preisack, Sven Hänzka, Sergej Klassen, Hendrik Köhler, Dennis Bartl, Sebastian Esser, Gregor Neubauer, Gabriel Kerekes and the Institute for Engineering Geodesy (IIGS) Cluster of Excellence Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture - IntCDC #ICD,#ITKE,#IntCDC,#EXC2120,#AAG2023,#computationaldesign,#computationalconstruction,#codesign,#hygroshell,#materialprogramming,#research,#building,#architecture,#generativedesign,#clusterofexcellence,#universityofstuttgart