Rosenstein‐Pavilion: Towards Resource Efficiency by Design
The Rosenstein‐Pavilion is a functionally graded concrete shell that was designed and built for the special exhibition “Construction Bionics – Biology Inspires Architecture” at Rosenstein Palace in Stuttgart. The exhibits presented there show the research results of the Collaborative Research Centre TRR 141 “Biological Design and Integrative Structures”, in which biological models are investigated with regard to a possible abstraction of construction principles and their transfer into objects and technologies of the building industry. The pavilion is a prototype of the implementation of a construction principle of lightweight but strong structures, which were developed using structural biomaterials as a source of inspiration for weight‐optimized load‐bearing systems. Research focused on the bionic principle of structural optimization by locally adapting properties to external and internal conditions. In the technical disciplines, this principle is also known as functional gradation and is widely used in materials science, medicine, mechanical engineering and civil engineering: through the development of materials and structures with properties that can be adapted locally to static, mechanical, physical or other functional requirements.
The present paper proposes to extend the application of this principle to design and architecture, with the material and energy efficiency of the building being as important as other design factors. This is of paramount importance, especially in view of the increasing scarcity of natural resources in contrast to a steadily growing population.