Timber Gridshells

John Chilton is Professor of Architecture and Tectonics at the University of Nottingham, UK. With a special interest in the history, design and construction of innovative and non-conventional structures, he is an active member of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) and chaired their Working Group 12 – Spatial Timber Structures – from 1998 to 2015. He is the author of Space Grid Structures and Heinz Isler: The Engineer’s Contribution to Contemporary Architecture, a book on the work of the Swiss reinforced concrete shell-builder Heinz Isler.Gabriel Tang is an architect and Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He trained at the Bartlett, University College London, UK, and worked in the offices of Foster + Partners, London. Currently completing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK, on the novel use of deployable gridshells as formwork for concrete shell construction, his research interests lie in technology culture, material tectonics and the innovation synergies between architecture, structure and construction processes.

• Acknowledgements. Preface. 1. Introduction: Shells with Holes 2. Early Gridshells 3. Second Generation Deployable Gridshells (Post-Mannheim) 4. Ribbed Gridshells 5. Alternative Materials and Systems 6. Small Scale Projects and Experimentation 7. Made to Measure - Digital Fabrication 8. Current and Future Projects Under Construction Postscript. References and Bibliography. Index