Architecture under tension
Structural designs as section models
The exhibition presented models of historical and contemporary structures.
They were created at the Chair of Structural Design at the Faculty of Architecture of TU Dresden during the winter semester 2007/08 as semester projects.
The task for the second-year students was to research and review materials such as floor plans, sections, and details of selected buildings – including St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, the Japanese Pavilion at Expo 2000 in Hanover, and the through station Gare do Oriente in Lisbon. Furthermore, they were required to analyze this information, abstract it appropriately for the required 1:50 scale model, and work with the specified model-making materials: Finnboard and wood. This allowed the structural and constructional design of the buildings – reduced to the essential elements of their load-bearing structures – to be compared.
The aim was to learn and consolidate model-making skills by translating a real building into an architecturally abstracted scale. The focus was on deepening the understanding of long-span load-bearing structures, their spatial impact, dimensions, and detailing using exemplary buildings.
Exhibition by the Technical University of Dresden, Chair of Structural Design & the German Werkbund Saxony