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COMPLEX BRICK SYSTEMS: NESTED CATENARIES
PROJECT LEADER:
Defne Sunguroglu Hensel
FUNDER / DURATION:
Phase 1: Byggutengrenser, Wienerberger, Weber,
Einar Stange / 2011
Phase 2a + 2b: RCAT Strategic Budget / 2012
NETWORK / COLLABORATORS 2012:
e[ad] Escuela de Arquitectura y Diseño de la Pontificia
Universidad Católica de Valparaíso
BOMA Inpasa, Barcelona
ACTIVE RESEARCHERS 2012:
Defne Sunguroglu Hensel, Prof. Guillem Baraut Bover,
Master-mason Øyvind Buset
One of the key areas of material systems development at RCAT
involves the design of complex structural and multi-performa-
tive brick systems. This research is directly related to the PhD
of Research Fellow Defne Sunguroglu Hensel who leads this
line of inquiry. Phase 1 commenced in 2011 with a workshop
in collaboration with master-mason Øyvind Buset and mas-
ter-level students that led to the design and construction of
nested catenary arches in the construction hall of AHO. Struc-
tural engineer Prof. Guillem Baraut Bover, partner at BOMA
Inpasa in Barcelona, joined in phase 2, which commenced in
spring 2012 with a full-scale test construction of three nested
catenary vaults. This phase continued with the construction
of an unreinforced masonry shell of interconnected sub-shells
in the Open City in Ritoque, Chile, in collaboration with mas-
ter-mason Øyvind Buset and students from e[ad] in Valparaiso.
The shell consists of twelve sub-shells, each with synclastic
surface geometry and a thickness of 55mm. The span is 7m in
both directions, reaching a height of 3.3m. Since its completion
the structure has withstood several earthquakes of a magni-
tude above 6 on the Richter scale. Further planned development
stages will focus on the environmental performance capacity of
the Nested Catenary system and the further rationalisation of
the construction process. This project demonstrates an integra-
tion of PhD-level research-by-design inquiry withmaster-level
design and construction experiments directed by the respective
PhD candidate.
AHO WORKS RESEARCH 2012
RCAT
