Symposium: Hybrid Flax Pavilion & Wangen Tower
Last Friday, June 14, the timber construction symposium took place in Wangen, where the new building demonstrators of the Cluster of Excellence IntCDC – the Wangen Tower and the Hybrid Flax Pavilion – were presented to the specialist audience. Wangen's Lord Mayor Michael Lang welcomed around 120 guests and praised the innovative power of the buildings, which have been attracting the public since the opening of the State Garden Show in April.
The buildings were presented by the project teams led by Prof. Achim Menges (ICD) and Prof. Jan Knippers (ITKE) from the University of Stuttgart, as well as the industrial partners Blumer Lehmann, STERK abbundzentrum and HA-CO Carbon. The focus of the presentations was on the reports on the tight planning period of just 10 months, which provided valuable insights for planning, production and assembly. Close cooperation and joint development with industry partners ensured the transfer of knowledge between research and practice.
One challenge for the timber constructor Blumer Lehmann was the precise bonding and pressing of the wet timber that was produced for the self-shaping timber components of the Wangen Tower. Bonding the three-dimensionally curved component connections after the self-forming process and applying the required contact pressure was just as demanding.
In contrast to the prototype from the research work, HA-CO was able to dispense with a robot and use a conventional winding machine for winding the flax components. The winding machines were controlled by dynamic, self-calculating paths at runtime, which minimized the input of control data.
The small regional timber construction company STERK was also able to manufacture the timber components of the hybrid flax pavilion from cross-laminated timber: using standardized planning software for timber construction and a conventional joinery system, the roof components for the curved roof were prefabricated at the factory and assembled on time.
The two innovative buildings were planned according to the latest research findings on digitalization and lightweight construction at the Cluster of Excellence IntCDC and show visitors in different ways how bio-based materials can open up new paths for regenerative architecture. The Wangen Tower and the Hybrid Flax Pavilion can be visited as part of the Landesgartenschau Wangen until October 6, after which they will remain open to the public.
