Statically Motivated Form Finding Based on Extended Graphical Statics (EGS)

In the 19th century it was common to use graphical methods for study the relationship between form and force. The central element of all drawing methods for representing the inner flow of forces was the investigation of the dependence of equilibrium and force polygons, as well as their representation in two geometrically dependent diagrams with different units. This research is part of an on going project to extend the methods of ‘graphical statics’ of Carl Culmann (1866) to the third dimension in order to overcome some of the 2D-limitations of this approach. It is focused on the construction of resulting force within 3D and the utilization within discrete space frames (tetrahedrons) in equilibrium. The objective of the EGS is to focus on constructing in contrast to calculating. That means that the logic of the inner force flow leads to a process-oriented and visible approach of design, which gets computationally accessible. With the use of digital tools and increasing importance of performative methods of form-finding a renewed interest in these vector-based geometric methods of construction of force flow has occurred. This may be will give the possibility to get an alternative to the common form finding methods by relaxation processes and analysis by FEM.