This Design for the Somewhere Farm in Clear Water Bay in Hong Kong investigates the design and construction of doubly-curved equilateral constant normal curvature (ECNC) gridshell structures with straight, flat, and repetitive building components. Using kit-of-parts with identical shape and size, enables standardized prefabrication. These components are connected to form a collapsible scissor-hinge grid, which can be deployed onsite to create freeform gridshells. The structure is then converted into a stable triangulated grid using diagonal elements. The angles of connections between the kit-of-parts can be adjusted to accommodate different constant normal curvature values and facilitate positive and negatively curved design shapes. This approach allows for the reuse of the same repetitive components in multiple designs and life cycles, promoting a sustainable, circular building system for energy conservation and carbon reduction.

The research is founded in differential geometry, looking at three curvatures of a curves on a surface with respect to the “Darboux frame”. Normal curvature refers to the curvature measured in the normal plane (perpendicular to the surface) at a given point and direction on the surface. Geodesic curvature measures the deviation of a curve from a straight geodesic path, which is the shortest distance between two points on the surface. Lastly, geodesic torsion describes the rotation of a curve around its tangent vector, illustrating the twist experienced by the flat element. These measurements provide a thorough comprehension of gridshell geometry and facilitate efficient construction using straight or circular lamellas.

• Year: 2023
• Team: Haotian Man, Dr. Eike Schling, Dr. Zongshuai Wan
• Affliliation: The University of Hong Kong
• Location: Hong Kong
• Field: Architectural Geometry, Gridshell Structure, Repetitive Structure