• Weinand, Yves, and Markus Hudert. “Timberfabric: Applying Textile Principles on a Building Scale.” The New Structuralism: Design, Engineering and Architectural Technologies 80.4 (2010): 102-07. AD Reader. Web. 13 Sept. 2013. <http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ad.1113/abstract>.
  • Explains the importance of research in academic institutions for the architectural practice.

Practical and material orientated academic research has become increasingly important for architectural practice, due to several factors.(Weinand, 104)

1. It contributes to contemporary concepts in architecture and improves their implementation.
   1. It is the limitations in time and capacities that more often than not confound the realisation of such ambitions.
   2. Academic research can fill this gap and provide architectural practices with the necessary resources.
2. Research has a duty to address how to achieve sustainable building.

“Standard software is currently not able to simulate material behaviour such as elastic deformation, but the development of software that can do so is an essential step in connecting the Textile Module with digital planning and production. Inputs from mathematics and mechanical engineering are necessary to successfully execute this part of the work.”(104)
Developing new software tools to simulate and predict material behavior in sheet metal will be necessary to accomplish the goal of a streamlined production process.

“Quantitative answers can be determined. Which radius is required? Which curvature can be accepted? An empirical approach, using a series of physical models, is applied to address such questions.”(107)
Much like Weinand and Hudert’s project, my research will include empirical tests to determine the bounds of metal deformation and how different tool-paths, tool-heads, and force directions affect the sheet.

“Geometrical and mechanical observations need to be collected. The deformation process creates a specific stress situation, which can be described as ‘initial stress’. Those parameters can be measured by means of computer simulation, where the deformation process is modelled. The initial stress situation can be established via measures taken directly on the physical prototype by stress-sensing elements. Once the initial stress situation is known, various load cases can be performed giving more insight into the structural performance of a given Timberfabric.”(107)
Specific experiments and methods for collecting data on a material.

“Architectural production over the past decade has been marked by a strong affection for the image. The seductive aesthetics of digital architectural modelling and visualisation have often dominated over attention towards materiality and building construction. There appears to be something remarkable in the interaction of the material and the formal qualities that produces a distinguished quality of design. It is perhaps the elevation of materiality to a level of prominence in design and design research that can explain this intellectual resonance and its implications for architecture as a material practice.”(107)
More arguments for incorporating research of material behavior into the architectural design process.