POLYHEDRAL CANOPY
POLYHEDRAL CANOPY © CREATE
ABOUT THE PROJECT
The Polyhedral Canopy is a 5-metre-wide and 3.5-metre-high concrete structure that demonstrates a new approach to lightweight, modular, and circular construction. Developed by SDU CREATE, the project combines three-dimensional graphic statics with a field-driven lamella roof system. The resulting structural morphology integrates a polyhedral network of nodes and struts with ribbed roof elements organised along principal structural trajectories. This places material where it is structurally required while reducing weight and increasing daylight penetration.
The canopy consists of 69 prefabricated reinforced ultra high performance fibre-reinforced concrete components, including 49 nodes, 19 struts and one foundation element. Its components weigh less than 20 kg on average and form a modular kit of parts that can be manually assembled, dismantled, transported and reconfigured. Reversible mechanical connections and modular repetition integrate circularity directly into the structural and architectural concept.
The geometric complexity of the components was realised through multi-functional additive formwork, a reusable manufacturing system produced from bio based polymeric material. The formwork modules support several stages of production, including reinforcement alignment, steel plate positioning, welding guidance, dimensional control and concrete casting. Following each casting cycle, the modules can be dismantled and reused to produce further components.
Material testing, nonlinear finite element analysis and full-scale structural testing informed the engineering and validation of the system. The completed canopy was tested under loads of up to 7 tonnes. The project demonstrates how computational design, structural engineering and digital fabrication can be integrated into a scalable construction method for materially efficient, architecturally expressive and circular concrete structures.
PROJECT CREDITS
SDU CREATE, Led by Ass. Prof. Dr Roberto Naboni, University of Southern Denmark
Research, Design and Development: Roberto Naboni (Project Leader), Giulio Paparella (Form Finding), Alessandro Zomparelli (Computational Design)
Fabrication and Construction Development: André Marinho, Giulio Paparella, Omar Rawashdeh, Olivia Sanchez Balenciaga
On Site Assembly: Alessandro Barra, Anja Kunic
Structural Collaboration: Anders Knudsen (Structural Consultancy), Olivia Sanchez Balenciaga (Structural Analysis)
Photographic Documentation: Alessandro Barra, Gautam Vohra, Alessandro Zomparelli
Industrial Partners: FILOALFA® (Polymeric Materials), HiCON (High Performance Concrete), 3DPWASP (3D Printers)