Link to Index Page

Selected architectural shells by architect Heinz Isler

“No:” (column 4) is the minimum number of all different arches required for re-modeling process. Each of the arches, which are embedded in the shells, might be repeated in a shell with changing dimensions

This and the next image are from:

Abtin Baghdadi (1), Mahmoud Heristchian (2), Harald Kloft (1)
(1) Department of Architecture Civil Engineering and Environmental Sciences, Institute of Structural Design, TU Braunschweig, Braunschweig, Germany
(2) Department of civil engineering, South Tehran Branch, Islamic Azad University, Tehran, Iran

“Structural assessment of remodelled shells of Heinz Isler”, International Journal of Advanced Structural Engineering, Vol. 11, No. 4, pp 491-502, December 2019, https://doi.org/10.1007/s40091-019-00248-4

ABSTRACT: Heinz Isler as the most famous contemporary shell designer has widely employed physical pre-modelling techniques for construction of many concrete shell structures. Through the physical approach to optimal form finding, Isler accomplished shell structures with robust performance. It would be interesting and beneficial to re-assess Isler’s shells, hence, this article attempts to study the structural performance of eight notable shells of Isler. Through reverse engineering and by the assistance of Rhino, MATLAB and Grasshopper, the precise geometry of Isler’s selected shells were modelled for the finite element analysis under their self-weight. The structural analysis was performed, with the parallel use of finite element software SAP2000 and Abaqus. The identical results of the two packages, further confirmed the accuracy of the analysis. The essential properties of various forms of the shells and their differences in behaviour were pinpointed and discussed within the calculations and the results were compared with the data of the genuine published references on Isler’s works. The internal forces, the amount of von Mises stresses, support reactions and the buckling loads of the shells are explored. The analyses revealed that, despite of their major membrane action, all the shells had negligible amount of bending moments, especially near the supports. However, in general, all the shells exhibited an appropriate performance under the applied actions. But, at the same time, they exhibited different buckling behaviour as a probable source of instability in them.

Page 89 / 114