Mario Sassone

• PhD
• Professor at bS-design

With the aim of proposing vaults and domes in contemporary architecture, this paper explores an innovative method to help designers model the brick patterning on a curved surface automatically and interactively, especially during the early design phases, when most important decisions are made. The focus is on the development of a modeling approach...

The present paper discusses the sensitivity of the global and local stability of a hybrid single layer grid shell to a set of Equivalent Geometric Nodal Imperfections representative of the actual structural and construction imperfections. Since imperfections are hard to be measured and controlled in experimental facilities, the stability of the str...

The majority of decisions in the building design process are taken in the early design stage. This delicate phase presents the greatest opportunity to obtain high performance buildings, but pertinent performance information is needed for designers to be able to deal with multidisciplinary and contrasting objectives. In the present work, an integrat...

The purpose of this study is to apply the notion of fractal geometry in designing structural roof trusses. Fractal geometry, commonly characterized by the features of recursive self-similarity, is considered as a rule-based geometric system that can be generated by using the process of the Iterated Function System (IFS). Lattice configurations of c...

This paper is part of the present project targeting to use digital tools for masonry construction. The research is based on the software simulating brick vaulting with herringbone pattern. By means of cooperation between CAD software and scripting code, it is aimed to provide a novel production that optimizes construction process of complex vault f...

This paper presents a design and construction experience which has been developed inside the Computational Morphogenesis, a master workshop, at the School of Architecture of Politecnico di Torino. In 2013 the program of the workshop concentrated on the design and construction of a free-form brick vault by means of digital tools and interactive meth...

Building shapes throughout history have been created with architectural, structural and other purposes in mind. Form can be embedded with technical knowledge that complement the architectural and esthetic aspects of buildings and enrich their design. Shells in particular have a long tradition of being structurally sound as well as architecturally s...

The objective of this paper is to design architectural structures inspired by the geometry of nature, known as ‘fractals’, as a venture for exploring a possibility of new architectural forms that we may have rarely experienced before, but already noticed in nature such as the botany and mountain. Two examples of natural objects having different fra...

Reciprocity is a structural principle that has fascinated designers and builders throughout the world since ancient times. Despite the topic's having been studied by various academics, designers and researchers, a critical overview of the references is still missing, as is an outline and discussion of the current and future promising research/desig...

Planar reciprocal frames are two dimensional structures formed by elements joined together according to the principle of structural reciprocity. In this paper a rigorous formulation of the static and kinematic problem is proposed and developed extending the theory of pin-jointed assemblies. This formulation is used to evaluate the static and kinema...

Acoustical Indexes as described in ISO3382-1 ¹ , with their optimal values, are not necessarily positively correlated. Some of them are in fact negatively correlated ² . This means that when designers try to shape a room in such a way as to obtain optimal EDT and C 80 values for a certain position in the room, they face contrasting objectives. This...

Focusing on the issues of sound propagation in a free field condition and on the concept of uniform sound energy in an outdoor performance environment, our research aimed to develop a computer-aided process for the generation of reflective acoustic surfaces to be used as concert-shells, a computational design tool for acoustic form-finding. The pro...

For many years, shells structures have an important role in architecture and engineering. After the industrial revolution and shifting from masonry construction to iron and concrete, the social, economic and environmental role of masonry construction has been underestimated. As a labor intensive method the masonry construction can be considered as...

Pier Luigi Nervi's first series of RC airplane hangars, built at Orvieto after 1935, are known for their cast in situ ribbed vault with crisscrossing elements. The paper aims to point out how a series of parallel experiments in steel construction and in airplane engineering also partly dealt with Nervi's objectives; and these experiments, alongside...

This paper discusses the application of a Multi Objective Search method to the design of shell structures. Contrasting objectives of light weight and high stiffness are consid-ered for two case studies with different geometry and constraints. The multiobjective search is performed in the frame of the Pareto theory of non domination, implemented in...

Tree’s complex geometric form is closely associated with its own structural stability, strength and biological function. Throughout history, architects and engineers have been inspired by this phenomenon of the connection between tree’s form and its structural strength with mechanical efficiencies for constructing building structures. However, the...

Architects are used to having a high level of control in the early design phase. However, in this initial stage of design the most important formal and acoustic decisions are made. The need for good communication between architect and acoustician is therefore highest in this stage of the process. The advent of advanced computational geometry, in pa...

Acoustical Indexes as described in ISO3382-1 1 , with their optimal values, are not necessarily positively correlated. Some of them are in fact negatively correlated 2 . This means that when designers try to shape a room in such a way as to obtain optimal EDT and C80 values for a certain position in the room, they face contrasting objectives. This...

Unhealthy housing or unhealthy environment directly and indirectly impact on an occupant’s physical, mental and socio-emotional health for the reason that human beings, housing and surrounding environment are connected to each other. Accordingly, achieving healthy housing is a very significant issue as well as challenge. But unfortunately, because...

The paper presents an integral-type general computational approach for the analysis of structural effects of time-dependent behaviour of concrete, with particular regard to creep, based on the coupling of the finite elements method with a numerical solution of the hereditary Volterra integral equations of aging linear viscoelasticity ensuing from t...

This paper deals with the principle of structural reciprocity, considering its origins in both Occidental and Orient culture and aiming to highlight the definition, main characteristics and interesting aspects of such concept referring to its application to the world of construction. Issues spanning from history, form-finding and morphology, struct...

Il rapporto che in architettura lega forma e struttura è di particolare interesse sia nella ricerca sui temi del ‘non-standard’ (Migayrou 2003), focalizzati per lo più sullo studio della gestione parametrica del progetto, sulla fabbricazione a controllo numerico dei suoi elementi, nota come File-To-Factory o più recentemente Digital Crafting, e sul...

This paper presents an optimization procedure for the solution of the planarity problem, a requirement of grid shells with four or more sides faces that need of having four adjacent nodes laying on a plane in order to use plane glass slabs as cladding elements. It can be satisfied by applying specific geometric rules in the grid generation phase bu...

In the history of construction, shell structures always represented a conceptual challenge for architects and engineers: from ancient masonry vaults to reinforced concrete roofs, their intrinsic three dimensional behavior, in terms of stresses and failure mechanisms, can be hardly predicted by intuition, because it relies on the complex interaction...

Reciprocal Frames are an interesting but almost unknown class of structures, based on the assemblage of straight one dimensional elements into spatial structures. They differ from truss structures because elements are joined by contact at intermediate and end points, and they can reach stability without the need of pins. RF aroused lively interest...

The optimization problem related to the tessellation of free-form grid shells is presented in this paper. This kind of structure is generally composed of a supporting grid that defines the geometry of a large number of cladding elements that are always different from each other. From the construction point of view this means that each single piece...

In this paper an optimization problem related to the tessellation of a free form grid shell is presented. This kind of structures is generally composed by a supporting grid that defines the geometry of a large number of cladding elements always different one from another. From the constructive point of view it means that every single piece needs to...

The Force density Method [FDM], since Linkwitz and Schek's first development in 1970's, has been well known as a powerful tool for analytical form-finding and static analysis of self-stressed structures like tensile membranes and cable networks. Actually force density is always associated to a real stress state of the structure under a field of app...

History of structures has been the theme of three successive IASS (International Association for Shell and Spatial Structures) Symposia held in Istanbul from 1988 to 2000. In the first one the development of the dome as a structural form from antiquity to modern times was the main subject. The second symposium held in 1993 focused on structures hav...

In this paper we present two different optimization procedures, developed and implemented to deal with economic and constructive problems of free form grid shells. This kind of structures is generally composed by a supporting grid that defines the geometry of a large number of cladding glass elements always different one from another. From the cons...

Gridshells are often characterized by hard plan and building difficulties, usually combined with considerable budgets: this paper shows how the application of geodesic curves enables to build a free form gridshell with a modest budget and a swift, simple process of assembling. After an introduction presenting contingences at the origin of the resea...

For my final thesis I decided to study the vast potential of surface structures in the field of architecture. I had the idea to create a surface that would not only act as a load bearing roof of a concert hall with a large clear span, but also, this surface was to serve as the main acoustic ceiling in this concert hall. This was the main idea, to h...

In this paper a computational morphogenesis process is applied to the design and the optimization of the shell roof of a large music hall. The architectural concept is based on the folded plate technique: a set of reinforced concrete plates, connected to each other on the edges, forms the global shape of the roof. The dimensions of each plate are d...

In this paper a constructional problem related to grid-shells design is approached as an optimisation problem and an evolutionary solution technique is proposed. The construction of glass grid-shells, when only four sides cladding elements are used, requires to check the planarity of each element, it means that the four corner points have to belong...

The paper presents a method to generate and structurally optimize the shape of free form shells by means of a genetic algorithm. The shape of the shell is described with the aid of a NURBS representation and the algorithm modifies and improves it on the basis of the structural behaviour. A FEM analysis is performed for each individual and at each g...

In occasione della conferenza tenuta al Politecnico di Torino il 6 novembre abbiamo incontrato Mutsuro Sasaki, strutturista giapponese noto per le collaborazioni con architetti «eccellenti» nelle quali ha contribuito alla definizione della forma architettonica fin dal primo momento, enfatizzando il carattere intrinsecamente multdisciplinare del pro...

In the paper the application of a GA evolutionary algorithm to the structural optimisation of free-form architectural shell structures, as large concrete roofs, is shown. The attention is focused on the need of different computational tools and on the problems involved in multidisciplinary design, as the communication and information exchange. The...

Synopsis: Many structural problems involving creep in concrete structures can be solved in very compact closed forms through the fundamental theorems of linear viscoelasticity of aging materials. This general approach requires the knowledge of three basic functions: the compliance function J, derived directly from the creep prediction models availa...

The paper presents a method to generate the geometry of reciprocal structures by means of a hybrid optimization procedure. The geometry of reciprocal structures where elements are sitting on the top or in the bottom of each other is extremely difficult to predict because of the non-hierarchical nature of such assemblies and the intrinsic three dime...

The expansion of concrete construction in high-rise buildings has made these structures sensitive to the effects of creep and shrinkage. Initial and time dependent strains of concrete generate both absolute and relative displacements in vertical elements that cannot be neglected. The problem is further complicated by the sequential character of hig...

p. 1885-1894 Reciprocal frames and reciprocal structures have already been considered of great interest in the past, as witnessed by the work of Leonardo da Vinci and of other important scientists and architects. Recent researches show that both the shape and the mechanical behaviour of such structures are really complexes, due to the concept of re...