How can something low in inherent solidity still be structurally present and define architectural space? Developed for the Complex Forming Seminar, the project pushes that question through Cairo's Bab El-Louk market, using the site's own structural grid as the foundation for a soft, inflated transformation.
Context
IAAC · Barcelona
Year
2025
Stack
Kangaroo · Digital fabrication · Panelisation · Adaptive reuse
Brief
How can an object low in inherent solidity still be structurally present and define architectural space? This question lies at the heart of The Pneumatical Incrustation, exploring the fundamental contrast between the solid and the soft — a dialogue between the rigidity of traditional architecture and the fluidity of pneumatic structures.
01 · Challenge
Early Kangaroo explorations produced compelling free-form geometry that couldn't be standardised for construction. The fix was a pseudo-code membrane that hangs downward into columns while simultaneously inflating upward into domes: complexity traded for quantifiability.
02 · Process
A horizontal frame subdivides along the site grid, extrudes down to anchor the form, relaxes into a membrane, inflates upward under negative load, and trims to open shopfronts. A Kangaroo circle-packing solve joins into hexagonal panels, each one extruded along its normal and smoothed into the finished pneumatic surface.
03 · Parameters
Column descent, dome inflation, panelisation density and per-panel inflation magnitude are all adjustable, letting the system respond to structural weight and constraint without a redesign.
04 · Context
The existing structural grid becomes the foundation rather than an obstacle. From outside, the inflated volumes read as extrusions hinting at the commerce below; inside, the upper faces filter daylight while the lower faces descend to sculpt intimate shops and corridors.
