Building Parts

In architecture, we need simple building parts or elements to connect new structures and building elements by processing or modifing them: roof, wall, ceiling, floor, amongst others.

Next to this, the development of new building parts and elements also requires solutions for semi-finished products made of paper and cardboard to be used as simple profiles or panels. These simple building materials for supports or beams are still missing. Thus, a first step would be to find out how the cross-sections could be increased in order to turn a thin, flat material into a solid, voluminous part that could take on the functions of a beam, for example.

One approach is to layer paper to attain greater cross-sections. Also, honeycomb panels or corrugated carton, existing, planar semi-finished paper products, could be rolled or folded to produce parts with larger cross-sections and to save material at the same time.

The path to an approved paper building product, especially those that have load-bearing properties, can only be accomplished with physical models that are used to test their performance. In parallel, the behavior has to be simulated and can serve as a knowledge base for users such as structural engineers and architects.

When dealing with this topic, the experi-mental process in architecture, model building and developing initial 1:1 approaches, provides an opportunity to quickly identify potential and risks.