New stone shells: design and robotic fabrication

Abstract

The research explores the design and analysis of a thin marble shell that incorporates the latest developments in fabrication technology and computational analysis. Natural stone, one of the oldest and most traditional building materials, is used in innovative ways by manipulating it with a 6-axis robotic waterjet. The research studies techniques for the robotic perforation and surfacing of natural stone, with a particular focus on marble. The work was conducted in collaboration with Monica Ponce de Leon and Wes McGee at the Harvard Graduate School of Design (GSD). Small tests panels explore how transparency and translucency of stone can be generated through robotic waterjet cutting. A prototypical stone shell is designed to further explore the design potential encountered in the small test pieces. The shell is post-tensioned and stiffened with metal stiffeners. Finite-element analysis (FEA) serves as a primary technique to conduct a detailed structural analysis of the shell.