THE POTENTIAL OF UNRESTRICTED SHELL SYSTEMS IN ARCHITECTURE TO IMPACT SPACIAL PERCEPTION

By Sufiyanu Momoh

Design in architecture seems to be limited by quiet a lot of factors which puts restrictions in our abilities to solve problems and create design. We are limited to the past and existing methods of doing things because of what would be described as the norms of doing things in the architecture world. We try to do things that solve problems partially because we have to do them with certain geometries and shapes that have been used for several years.

Design should be able to work on its own and be impacted more by factors that would make the space better and less of factors that result from the means of doing things. For example an attempt to create a shade in a certain area would be placing a flat roof or some type of sloped shading device. We do it this way because that is the best way we have accepted to be the means to solve this problem, how about we solve it by studying the source of this problem and letting our solution work around that result.

An unrestricted shell can be described as a systematic frame with a potential to do a lot of problem solving on its own and also act as a strong element of design. It should be able to remain structural sound and stable without obstructing the solution which can then lead us into designing a freeform shape in architecture. These shells can be described as a template to the solutions, literally.

A lot of people would describe these shells as grid shell. Majority of these grid shells satisfy their design needs but do not really go deep into solution solving and in cooperating environmental solutions into improving the spaces. These grid shells should be able to serve as templates for sustainable solutions such as solar panels there by having certain parts of the template shape in a way they get the full potential of the sun. It could also serve as templates to hold heliostats which can reflect sun light into darker areas within a dense city to brighten things up. They can work as trellis holding up vines for decoration and the frames holding these vines can also collect rain water from roof tops to water these vines. The potential of what this shell can do can go on and on.

A couple of things to look into when thinking about implementing something like this would be  the cost to make it. Exploring several materials that would be structurally sound would be ideal as well. Looking at materials starting from glulam to steel. But that won’t be the only thing to look into. Looking into the connecting methods and anchoring would also be part of the means to make this work in a very feasible manner.

Spaces are strongly impacted by the architecture around it but an architecture piece that in cooperates exterior naturally factors into the space can make this space be preserved in various different ways beyond imagination.