‘Hybrid Tower’: An Interdisciplinary Research Program Of CITA

In the world of stiff and static architecture, Hybrid Tower represents the idea of building a masonry with soft materials, which give way to force in a controlled manner. The tower is a project of CITA'S (Center For information technologies and architecture) complex modeling research framework and was exhibited within the contextile festival in Guimaraes.

According to Archdaily, Hybrid Tower is made of only two components Bend GFRP rods and Custom-made CNC knits. The combination of these two materials invented a hybrid structure which is very light yet stiff, balances strong wind as well as other external forces in a very controlled process.

The 9mt high structure is extremely light that it needed only six-person to hold it. On the other hand, Hybrid Tower is also strong enough to dispute on the world cultural heritage side of the central square of Guimaraes for three-month outdoor installation. In order to assemble easily, puzzle-like joints are integrated into the form of round beams which is able to carry vertical loads 50kg.

According to Designboom, the structure was part of a combined project between architects (CITA, Copenhagen), structure and textile engineers (KET, Berlin, and Guimaraes), material specialists (Duisburger) and knitting company (A. Ferreira and Filhos). Together they developed a layout of the structure, which allowed them to use knit as building materials and proved that textile can be used as the structural material.

The project investigates two things- A: inherent interdependency and material performances of the structure, which creates new design methods. It includes three design medium- structure, element, and material and B: inter-scale design strategies for specification, fabrication, simulation and design. The second investigation describes why the team needed to make a layout for balancing feedback from different scales of design- macro [structural behavior], meso [amplifying membrane strategy], and micro [bespoke knitted structural design].

By using a projection-based relaxation property with finite element simulation, CITA created new testing techniques which can predict the interaction of the knitted fabrics. According to the bespoke properties and the relative dearth of elastic materials, a database was created to collect information on the fabric's performance. In the process, the final shape of the Hybrid Tower was given directly in the CNC knitting machine.

CITA and AFF developed an interface between design, setting and CNC product machines, which create machine language defining knitting pads, yarn carries and holding sample. This controlled the knitted textile formation giving an exact structure, material, and shape. The project provided glamorous architect in the town as well as a new experience of a vivid and haptic knitted textile architecture into the civic culture.