Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in
Book cover

Architectured Materials in Nature and Engineering pp 423–445Cite as

Topological Interlocking Blocks for Architecture: From Flat to Curved Morphologies

  • Chapter
  • First Online:

Part of the book series: Springer Series in Materials Science ((SSMATERIALS,volume 282))

Abstract

The paper concerns the theme of topological interlocking blocks for architecture and the relationship between flat stereotomic assemblies and curved morphologies. After a brief history of the subject, theoretical foundations and speculative research are presented. The research includes several built full-scale prototypes and architectural elements. The last part of the chapter describes the didactic experiences concerning the theme, during the third year Architectural Design Studio held by the authors, at Politecnico di Bari, Italy.

This paper is the result of the combined work of the three authors. Paragraphs 1 and 2 was written by Maurizio Barberio; paragraphs 3 and 4 by Giuseppe Fallacara; paragraph 5 by Micaela Colella. The authors have revised all the paragraphs, and the paper structure has been conceived together.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution.

Chapter
USD   29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD   99.00
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book
USD   129.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book
USD   199.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Learn about institutional subscriptions

References

  1. J.M. Pérouse de Montclos, L’Architecture à la française, du milieu du XVe à la fin du XVIIIe siècle (Picard, Paris, 1982)

    Google Scholar 

  2. E. Rabasa Díaz, La bóveda plana de Abeilla en Lugo (1998)

    Google Scholar 

  3. E.D. Nichilo, Learning from stone traditional vaulted systems for the contemporary project of architecture. The experimental construction site at the ponton de oliva, in Proceedings of First International Congress Construction History. (Instituto Juan de Herrera, Madrid, 2003), pp. 743–754)

    Google Scholar 

  4. G.R. Uva, Learning from traditional vaulted systems for the contemporary design. an updated reuse of flat vaults: Analysis of structural performance and recent safety requirements, in Proceedings of First International Congress Construction History. (Instituto Juan de Herrera, Madrid, 2003), pp. 2015–2021

    Google Scholar 

  5. G. Fallacara, Digital stereotomy and topological transformations: reasoning about shape building, in Proceedings of Second International Congress Construction History, (Queen’s College Cambridge, Cambridge, 2006), pp. 1075–1092

    Google Scholar 

  6. G. Fallacara, Verso una progettazione stereotomica. Nozioni di stereotomia, stereotomia digitale e trasformazioni topologiche: ragionamenti intorno alla costruzione della forma (Aracne Editrice, Roma, 2007)

    Google Scholar 

  7. R. Etlin, G. Fallacara, L. Tamborero, Plaited Stereotomy-Stone Vaults for the Modern World (Aracne, Roma, 2008)

    Google Scholar 

  8. G. Fallacara, Toward a stereotomic design: experimental constructions and didactic experiences, in Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History (2009), p. 553

    Google Scholar 

  9. G. Fallacara, Stereotomy-Stone Architecture and New Research (Presses des Ponts et Chaussées, Paris, 2012)

    Google Scholar 

  10. J. Sakarovitch, Construction history and experimentation, in Proceedings of the Second International Congress on Construction History (2006), pp. 2777–2792

    Google Scholar 

  11. F. Fleury, Evaluation of the perpendicular flat vault inventor’s intuitions through. Large scale instrumented testing, in Proceedings of the Third International Congress on Construction History, Cottbus (2009)

    Google Scholar 

  12. M. Brocato, L. Mondardini, Geometric methods and computational mechanics for the design of stone domes based on Abeille’s bond. Advances in Architectural Geometry 2010, 149–162 (2010)

    Google Scholar 

  13. A.V. Dyskin, Y. Estrin, A.J. Kanel-Belov, E. Pasternak, A new concept in design of materials and structures: assemblies of interlocked tetrahedron-shaped elements. Scripta Mater. 44(12), 2689–2694 (2001)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Y. Estrin, Topological interlocking and osteomorphic blocks, in Stereotomic Design, ed. by G. Fallacara, V. Minenna (Gioffreda Editore, Maglie (LE), 2014), pp. 11–13

    Google Scholar 

  15. A.V. Dyskin, Y. Estrin, A.J. Kanel-Belov, E. Pasternak, Topological interlocking of platonic solids: a way to new materials and structures. Philos. Mag. Lett. 83(3), 197–203 (2003)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. A.V. Dyskin, Y. Estrin, E. Pasternak, H.C. Khor, A.J. Kanel-Belov, The principle of topological interlocking in extraterrestrial construction. Acta Astronaut. 57(1), 10–21 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Y. Estrin, A.V. Dyskin, E. Pasternak, Topological interlocking as a material design concept. Mater. Sci. Eng. C 31(6), 1189–1194 (2011)

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. O. Tessmann, Topological interlocking assemblies, in Physical Digitality—Proceedings of the 30th International Conference on Education and Research in Computer Aided Architectural Design in Europe. (Prague, Czech Republic, 2012), pp. 12–14

    Google Scholar 

  19. O. Tessmann, M. Becker, Extremely heavy and incredibly light: performative assemblies in dynamic environments, in 18th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia: Open Systems, CAADRIA 2013; Singapore; Singapore; 15 May 2013 through 18 May 2013, pp. 469–478. The Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA), Hong Kong, and Center for Advanced Studies in Architecture (CASA), Department of Architecture, School of Design and Environment, National University of Singapore, Singapore (2013)

    Google Scholar 

  20. O. Tessmann, Interlocking manifold kinematically constrained multi-material systems, in Advances in Architectural Geometry 2012  (Springer Vienna, 2013), pp. 269–278

    Google Scholar 

  21. T. Schwartz, L. Mondardini, Integrated design and robotized prototyping of Abeille’s vaults. in Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2014 (Springer International Publishing, 2014), pp. 199–209

    Google Scholar 

  22. M. Colella, Stereotomic design exhibition. evolution: from the hand to the robot, in Stereotomic Design, ed. by G. Fallcara, V. Minenna (Gioffreda Editore, Maglie (LE), 2014), pp. 38–52

    Google Scholar 

  23. M. Weizmann, O. Amir, Y.J. Grobman, Topological interlocking in architectural design (2015)

    Google Scholar 

  24. M. Weizmann, O. Amir, Y.J. Grobman, Topological interlocking in buildings: a case for the design and construction of floors. Autom. Constr. 72, 18–25 (2016)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. I. Miadragovič Vella, T. Kotnik, A. Herneoja, T. Österlund, P. Markkanen, Geometric versatility of Abeille Vault. eCAADe 2016 (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  26. H.T.D. Yong, Utilisation of Topologically-Interlocking Osteomorphic Blocks for Multi-Purpose Civil Construction. Ph.D. Thesis, The University of Western Australia (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  27. S. Weir, D. Moult, S. Fernando, Stereotomy of wave jointed blocks, in Robotic Fabrication in Architecture, Art and Design 2016 (Springer International Publishing, 2016), pp. 284–293

    Google Scholar 

  28. S. Fernando, D. Reinhardt, S. Weir, Waterjet and wire-cutting workflows in stereotomic practice, in Protocols, Flows and Glitches, Proceedings of the 22nd International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2017, ed. by P. Janssen, P. Loh, A. Raonic, M.A. Schnabel (2017), pp. 787–798

    Google Scholar 

  29. G. Fallacara, M. Barberio, M. Colella, Mater[i]a: Conoscenza e Progetto. Nuovo polo museale multifunzionale per Matera 2019 (La Stamperia Edizioni, Matera, 2016)

    Google Scholar 

  30. M. Barberio, M. Colella, G. Fallacara, Stereotomy, sustainable construction and didactics. case study: a new museum for matera, European Capital of culture 2019, in 3rd International Balkans Conference on Challenges of Civil Engineering, 3-BCCCE, 19–21 May 2016, Epoka University, Tirana, Albania. ALB (2016)

    Google Scholar 

  31. G. Fallacara, M. Barberio, M. Colella, Con_corso di progettazione. Learning by designing. (Aracne Editrice, Roma, 2017)

    Google Scholar 

  32. D. Piker, Kangaroo: form finding with computational physics. Archit. Des. 83(2), 136–137 (2013)

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Dipartimento di Scienze dell’Ingegneria e dell’Architettura, Politecnico di Bari, Bari, Italy

    Giuseppe Fallacara, Maurizio Barberio & Micaela Colella

Authors
  1. Giuseppe Fallacara
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Maurizio Barberio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Micaela Colella
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Giuseppe Fallacara .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, Australia

    Yuri Estrin

  2. SIMAP, Institut Polytechnique de Grenoble, Saint-Martin d’Hères, France

    Yves Bréchet

  3. Department of Chemistry and Physics of Materials, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria

    John Dunlop

  4. Department of Biomaterials, Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Potsdam, Germany

    Peter Fratzl

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2019 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this chapter

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this chapter

Fallacara, G., Barberio, M., Colella, M. (2019). Topological Interlocking Blocks for Architecture: From Flat to Curved Morphologies. In: Estrin, Y., Bréchet, Y., Dunlop, J., Fratzl, P. (eds) Architectured Materials in Nature and Engineering. Springer Series in Materials Science, vol 282. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-11942-3_14

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation