Shaping by Internal Material Frustration: Shifting to Architectural Scale

Self-morphing of thin plates could greatly impact the life if used in architectural context. Yet, so far, its realizations are limited to small-scale structures made of model materials. Here, new fabrication techniques are developed that turn two conventional construction materials—clay and fiber composites (FRP)—into smart, self-morphing materials, compatible with architectural needs. Controlled experiments verify the quantitative connection between the prescribed small-scale material structure and the global 3D surface, as predicted by the theory of incompatible elastic sheets. Scaling up of desired structures is demonstrated, including a method that copes with self-weight effects. Finally, a method for the construction of FRP surfaces with complex curvature distribution is presented, together with a software interface that allows the computation of the 3D surface for a given fiber pattern (the forward problem), as well as the fiber distribution required for a desired 3D shape (the inverse problem). This work shows the feasibility of large-scale self-morphing surfaces for architecture.