Project Description

This interesting academic work by Alba López Gómez, Diego Paniagua Padilla, Students of ETSAM, Madrid (Superior Technical School of Architecture of Madrid) revisits structural design of the famous German Pavilion of Expo ’67 in Montreal Canada. This competition winning structure designed by Frei Otto together with Rolf Gutbrod some 50 years ago has been re-analyzed using a contemporary non-linear analyzing software for membrane structures, WinTess. The model is created through WinTess using the original dimensions with a membrane of PTFE/Glassfiber material. The structure was then checked for the stresses of all load bearing components, rain flow, foundation sizes, dimension of steel structural elements, etc. This study has verified the original design done by Frei Otto and Rolf Gutbrod at a time there was no computerized simulation tools were available.