Timber Gridshells. Architecture, Structure and Craft

Throughout history, people have constructed simple timber lattice shelters such as the tepee or yurt, covered with animal skins, leaves, grasses and woven fabrics. Over the last fifty years, more sophisticated ‘webs of wood’ have emerged, with timber gridshells in particular becoming a structurally expressive form of architecture. Recent developments in digital design, 3-D modelling software, timber fabrication technologies as well as trends towards low-carbon construction have further reinforced architects’ interest in the use of lightweight timber grids and lattice structures.

This timely book charts the origin and evolution of the timber gridshell and its relation to timber lattice architecture. Drawing on a range of international case studies, the authors trace the effect advances in technology have had on design and construction in this field, providing a clear understanding of the structure, morphology, design process, and construction technology, and examining both the application and constraints of timber gridshells in architectural design.

Timber Gridshells is a highly illustrated, up-to-date resource which provides detailed answers and inspires new ideas. As such, it is essential reading for students of architecture as well as professional architects.

John Chilton is Professor of Architecture and Tectonics at the University of Nottingham, UK. With a special interest in the history, design and construction of innovative and non-conventional structures, he is an active member of the International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures (IASS) and chaired their Working Group 12 – Spatial Timber Structures – from 1998 to 2015. He is the author of Space Grid Structures and Heinz Isler: The Engineer’s Contribution to Contemporary Architecture, a book on the work of the Swiss reinforced concrete shell-builder Heinz Isler.

Gabriel Tang is an architect and Senior Lecturer in Architecture at Sheffield Hallam University, UK. He trained at the Bartlett, University College London, UK, and worked in the offices of Foster + Partners, London. Currently completing a PhD at the University of Edinburgh, UK, on the novel use of deployable gridshells as formwork for concrete shell construction, his research interests lie in technology culture, material tectonics and the innovation synergies between architecture, structure and construction processes.