Otto, Frei

My last example is a long poem (forty-one stanzas) entitled "Disputation (Frei nach Heine)" by Otto Witt, depicting the battles that had been fought during the previous dozen years, mostly in the Berichte, over the formula for benzene, namely between Kekule s hexagon and Ladenburg s prism formula. Witt s extended metaphor is that of a medieval tournament. 

Drew P (1976), Frei Otto, Form and Structure, London, Crosby Lockwood Staples EMPA (2008), http //www.empa.ch/css (accessed 20/7/2010)... 

An early example was the design of a city in the Antarctic, which was published in 1971 by Kenzo Tange, Ted Happold, Ove Arup and Frei Otto (Figs 8.1 and 8.2), where 45,000 people could live. Polyester ropes would span 2000 m in the form of a shell structure and carry a two-layer envelope of synthetic material. 

External view of city in the Antarctic by Kenzo Tange, Ted Happold, Ove Arup and Frei Otto, 1971 (Source Frei Otto, Warmbronn, Germany). 

Architects, designers and civil engineers often use research in biomimetics as a design method or a design tool rather than a research disdptine. For them, the wide range of nature s developments offers opportunities to find new ideas apart from the human-made technical advance. Frei Otto never accepted that he researched in the field of biomimetics. He and his team were interested in natural constructions. They examined the physiology and... 

During their SFB 230 research, Frei Otto s team were interested in the optimization strategies of the shells of marine plankton, in which analyses of formation of the skeleton were essential. Conjectures on their functions or applications in technical use have been denied. Current scientific approaches point to defined mechanical purposes and optimization of the mechanical stress capacity regarding the shell structures of diatoms (see Figs 10.6 and 10.7) [34,35]. 

Nerdinger, W. (ed.), 2005. Frei Otto. Das Gesamtwerk Leicht bauen - naturlich gestalten. Basel Birkhauser. 

To date, the recipients of architectural awards for engineering achievement have tended to be structural designers rather than environmentalists. Frei Otto received a Gold Medal from the Royal Institute of Architecture in 2005, his contribution to building design considered revolutionary. The German Jorg Schlaich (1934-) has carried forward... 

Mollaert M, Haase J, Chilton JC, Moncrieff E, Dencher M and Bames M (2003), Designing Tensile Architecture, Brussels, TensiNet Murphy/Jahn Architects (2006), Passenger Terminal Complex Suvarnabhumi International Airport Bangkok , Detail (7-t8), 810-814 Nerdinger W,ed (2005),Frei Otto Complete Works Lightweight Construction Natural Design, Basel, Birkhauser... 

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