The digitally-designed pavilion has been crafted by design students Min-Chieh Chen, Dominik Zausinger and Michele Leidi of the ETH Zurich. About 409 cardboard cylinders of different diameters and thicknesses are connected together with ties resulting in a dome-shaped grid of circles.
The cones were manufactured using corrugated cardboard in 28 layers, each of which was cut, glued and labelled with a computer-controlled machine. Weatherproofing is provided by a shrink foil, a packing material like all the other that constitute the pavilion.
For all steps, from design, production, logistics, packing in Zurich to shipping and assembly in Shanghai, the process was implemented and optimized by means of self-made computer programmes. By intelligently nesting and packing the cones the amount of material used, the production time and the shipping volume were significantly reduced.
Designed and produced by Michele Leidi, Min-Chieh Chen and Dominik Zausinger with the help of Jeannette Kuo and the supervision of Tom Pawlofsky, this work was the final project of the Master Advanced Study group at the Department of Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD) at the ETH Zurich. The project aimed to demonstrate how CAAD can be exploited, not only to create designs but also to optimise the entire design processes including production and logistics.
The pavilion was displayed as part of the 3D paperArt exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Arts and Crafts as part of the Shanghai Expo 2010.
