Deployable Structures

Catalog description

The objective of this course is to introduce the rapidly growing field of deployable structures through hands on experiments conducted in workshop environments. Students develop skills in making deployable structures. The course provides an introduction to the history, theory and application of deployable structures, the course is divided into two parts. The first part is a series of workshops that examine the following: 1) Geometric studies of Platonic and Archimedean solids and space filling geometries, 2) Topology and morphological transformations, 3) Studies of different mechanical joints, 4) Computer visual analysis of the structural behavior of deployable structures, 5) Computer simulation of the deployment using Solid Works, 6) Build basic deployable structures with link, skeletal, and continuous members. The second part of the semester will focus on the research and development of student’s individual or group projects. Each student or group will develop and examine a deployable structure to build architectural application. The final assignment will be a to-scale physical working model.