Origami put together with newly developed joints

Vidy pavilion in Lausanne, Switzerland by Yves Weinand

A public building where the structure is connected in the traditional way, without the use of steel components. That’s what the new arts stage in Lausanne looks like, made of wood with an attractive origami structure. Eleven CLT vaults in locally produced wood are formed by the pleated panels of the walls and the building’s roof. Instead of screwing the elements together, the structural engineers have drawn inspiration from a traditional method, dovetails, but in a distinctly modernised guise. With the help of design software, they developed a precise and specific cutting plan for the various parts. The software also calculated how the forces will be distributed in the folded structure.

The walls are constructed in double layers, separated by a 210 millimetre gap that is filled with cellulose insulation made from recycled newspaper, which limits the shear forces and gives the building good acoustics. The roof height ranges from 16 to 20 metres without any intermediate supports, despite the wall panels only being 45 millimetres thick.

Read more at weinand.be

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