Catenary Curves Pavilion: Parametric Grasshopper Design

Render at dusk of a pavilion made of three joined catenary vaults, built as a dense triangulated timber lattice, rising from a paved plaza with figures walking beneath it against a violet sky.

A pavilion made using Grasshopper, based on the mathematical equations for catenary curves.

The Brief

This project was meant to be a part of a workshop on computation and mathematical surfaces, building real structures in the city according to the location and site selected.

Form Finding

Each study starts as a flat plan and is relaxed into a catenary surface. Changing the outline, the number of support points, and the rise gives a different structure from the same definition.

A rectangle relaxed into two humps.

A zigzag plan, drawn up into tall vaults.

Many supports under one central dome.

A shallower surface, opened by an oculus.

At the shallow end of the range, closer to a canopy than a vault.