350/360 COHESION/COCOON

350/360 COHESION/COCOON

A 3D printed pavilion designed for the University of Innsbruck’s 350th anniversary, 2019.

A cooperation of researchers and students at the University of

Innsbruck (Institute for Experimental Architecture, Unit Hochbau, Faculty of Architecture;

Department of Structural Engineering and Material Science, Unit Concrete Structures and Bridge Design, Faculty of Engineering Science), the Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands (3D Concrete Printing research group), and industry partners (the University of Innsbruck spin-off incremental3d GmbH; Baumit GmbH; PORR Bau GmbH).

Manufactured in segments by the robot-controlled 3D-concrete-printing-system BauMinator® and partially reinforced by steel and carbon fibers the prefabricated parts are assembled to create a pavillion as a place to linger as well as a technology platform for all faculties and departments situated at the Technical Campus of the University of Innsbruck.

Design: Marjan Colletti, Georg Grasser, Hannah Köll, Lorenz Pammer, 

Emanuel Werner

Fabrication: Lukas Härtenberger, incremental3d GmbH

Structural engineering: Freek Bos, Eindhoven University of Technology

Fabrication: Georg Bursik, Baumit GmbH

Eduard Artner, Baumit GmbH

Gottfried Prinz, PORR Bau GmbH

Martin Stopfer, PORR Bau GmbH

Manfred Kilzer, PORR Bau GmbH

Hannes Maurer, PORR Bau GmbH

Herbert Pichler, PORR Bau GmbH

Rupert Asanger, Image Credits

Drone footage Peter Massin; Photogrammetry: Marc Ihle.

The COHESION pavilion was designed and erected as part of the celebrations of the 350th

anniversary of the University of Innsbruck on the Campus Technik site.

The design, a complex, irregular, segmented, doublecurved and robotically 3D printed

concrete shell, is the result of a cooperation of researchers and students at the University of

Innsbruck (Institute for Experimental Architecture, Unit Hochbau, Faculty of Architecture;

Department of Structural Engineering and Material Science, Unit Concrete Structures and

Bridge Design, Faculty of Engineering Science), the Eindhoven University of Technology in

the Netherlands (3D Concrete Printing research group), and industry partners (the University

of Innsbruck spin-off incremental3d GmbH; Baumit GmbH; PORR Bau GmbH).

Manufactured in segments by the robot-controlled 3D-concrete-printing-system BauMinator®

and partially reinforced by steel and carbon fibers the prefabricated parts are assembled to

create a pavillion as a place to linger as well as a technology platform for all faculties and

departments situated at the Technical Campus of the University of Innsbruck.

Based on initial sketches and preliminary studies developed by architecture students and

technical sciences students, the final design was adapted to be sited in one of the existing

central water retention reservoirs of the main courtyard at the Campus Technik.

In this prominent location, visible early on from the main northern entrance the temporary

construction acts as a central meeting point and signpost on the campus. On the outer shell,

the numbers 3-5-0 are embossed in font size 2m to clearly mark the University’s

anniversary. The structure rises westwards towards the main wind direction with a small bar

table that cantilevers out of the infiltration basin. From the east-facing access a slightly

declining ramp leads to the interior, where integrated seating invites to linger and to relax.

From the very beginning, the team had to examine in depth several constraints of 3D

concrete printing processes, such as geometry, topology, weight, structural

soundness, manufacturing processes, transport and assembly. As a result, the whole

continuous object was subdivided into 47 radial vertical segments, partially reinforced by

steel and carbon fibers. All 47 parts were 3D printed by the robot-controlled concreteprinting

system BauMinator® at the incremental3d facilities in Upper Austria and assembled on site

with a truck crane.

Drone footage Peter Massin; Photogrammetry: Marc Ihle.