Architects: Center for Information Technology and Architecture
Area: 79 m²
Year: 2018
Photography: Anders Ingvartsen
Design Team: Mette Ramsgaard Thomsen, Martin Tamke, Yuliya Sinke Baranovskaya, Vasiliki Fragkia, Rune Noël Meedom Meldgaard Bjørnson-Langen, Sebastian Gatz
Engineering: str.ucture, Julian Lienhard, Riccardo La Magna
Lighting: Alurays, André Zibell, Dominic Sacher
Textile Production: AFF – A. Ferreira & Filhos, Filipa Monteiro, Jorge Vieira, André Manuel Guimarães Granja Correia, Noel Ferreira
Material Production: DSM Dyneema, Katrin-Sabina Freier
Client: DAC – Danish Architecture Center
City: Venice
Country: Italy
ISOROPIA, designed by the Center for Information Technology and Architecture in Venice, Italy. Completed in 2018, investigates how computational design can optimize material use in architecture, advocating for lighter, more efficient structures. Collaborative innovation integrates material behavior into early design stages. The use of Dyneema fibers provides strength and adaptability, allowing for Zero-waste production and easy recycling.
ISOROPIA (Greek for balance, equilibrium, and stability) is a project exploring the balance of tension and compression. It uses custom-designed knitted textiles with varying properties to embed bent fiberglass rods, finding their equilibrium and form. The project investigates how computational design can help rethink material use in architecture. Traditional practices often result in material waste, unable to meet global housing needs sustainably. ISOROPIA advocates for lightweight architecture, utilizing bending and stretching of materials to build more efficiently.
ISOROPIA is an example of collaborative innovation. It involves an interdisciplinary partnership between academia and practice, exploring lightweight simulation in design tools. Traditional tools rely on manual prototyping and complex structural calculations, which increase costs and time. Integrating material behavior analysis in early design stages can lead to innovative approaches that challenge conventional architecture. This open-source, community-led effort allows for reimagining material practices in architecture.
The project examines the interaction of materials in design. Structures are rarely single-material or solely in tension or compression. Isoropia uses bending fiberglass counterbalanced by a knitted textile. The design can adjust the structure’s form and expression through changes in textile pattern, fiberglass thickness, or textile tension.
Knit serves as the project’s textile membrane, achieving scale unprecedented in traditional techniques. Knit is softer and less uniform than laminated membranes and can be adapted for various scales. Custom patches are produced directly through digital knitting machines, controlling details like channels and perforations from the design environment. This process eliminates post-production, resulting in zero-waste production on the building element scale. The mono-material elements allow easy recycling of the fibers.
ISOROPIA develops its own material system, steering material behavior at a building scale. For the first time, Dyneema fibers are used on this scale. Known as the world’s strongest fiber, Dyneema is 15 times stronger and 8 times lighter than steel wire, resistant to water and UV light. Its non-elastic nature provides the necessary baseline strength, creating a material capable of adapting and forming a unique spatial experience.
Project Gallery
Project Location
Address: Venice, Italy
Location is for general reference and may represent a city or country, not necessarily a precise address.
