The ENAC week Making Structural Logic 2024 analyzed selected projects of Jean Prouvé through a physical reiteration of its structural elements. Students worked with thin steel sheets that become rigid through folding (tôle pliée). While some structural elements existed from a previous course and could directely be assembled into spatial fragments, others had to be reconceived and built to continue and transform the inherited collective construction. All elements were conceived as demountable to be kept after the ENAC week for future iterations.
The workshop adopted a pedagogy of making that enabled students to explore current research questions through experiential learning. By working at a 1:1 scale, students engaged in an inductive and iterative testing process based on constant observation of material properties and structural logic. The resulting prototypes not only challenged the limits of structural and material aspects but also considered spatial quality and economy of means.
The "Making Structural Logic 2024" ENAC week provided a stimulating and valuable opportunity for students to cultivate their skills in the application of theoretical principles and contribute to ongoing research in the field of sustainable structural design.
Four thematics were deeply research during this Making Structural Logic iteration:
Cyclical thinking: Thinking in life cycles (of function, material life, construction processes) shifts the focus from a linear process towards a final result to an iterative process open to transformation.
Physical analysis: Taking apart and reconceiving, through drawing and 1:1 fabrication to test the material limits and find out what adequacy of means is.
Experiential learning: Drawing and constructing with our hands is the most immediate way of becoming aware of technique in relation to intention.
Material innovation: The testing of material behaviour creates embodied knowledge permitting the invention of innovative solutions.
Teaching team
Patricia Guaita – ENAC IA ALICE
Raffael Baur – external expert ENAC
Invited experts
Dr David Fernández-Ordóñez, Secretary General, International Federation for Structural Concrete, lecturer SG ENAC EPFL
Prof Ornella Iuorio, Associate Professor of Architectural Engineering. Department of Architecture, Built Environment, and Construction Engineering, Polytechnic of Milan
Students
Blai Abel Serrano, Daniel Arzak Marban, Clément Balka, Alexia Behrend, Aïda Besri, Lama Boustany, Yvan Bruno, Océane Carillo, Milos Cemak, Kristina Cittollin, Joya El Laham, Jordan Fierro Perada, Lara Freitas Florencio, Esteban Germann, Boris Méan, Edona Sait, Carla Scharff-Hansen, Malika Vaccaro, Aurora Villain, Medea Zullino