Beijing News (reporter Liu Yang) When the night came, the southeast side of the "Ice Cube" venue began to shine with crystalline, silvery-white "big snowflakes". Eight glowing snowflake-shaped three-dimensional installations of different sizes and the "Ice Cube" with "blue bubbles" on the façade complement each other, making the Olympic Plaza at night more ethereal and romantic.
Behind the "big snowflake" is the fusion of technology and art. These three-dimensional snowflake light art installations, called Starry Snow, were developed by Huang Weixin's team at Tsinghua University's School of Architecture, using the original "curved building system for building structure integration" created by his research room. On the afternoon of March 1, the Beijing News reporter interviewed Professor Huang Weixin to understand the story behind research and development.
The Edelweiss sparkles at night in the Water Cube. Courtesy of respondents
Design multiple schemes and finally determine "Edelweiss Star"
According to reports, the "Edelweiss Star" device is one of the topics of the "Science and Technology Winter Olympics" project of the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Plan. Huang Weixin introduced that this structure is called "woven space mesh shell", which is the team's original answer to the international frontier topic of "freeform construction".
"The use of curved forms for architectural expression, the current use of modern CNC processing methods, there are high cost, construction difficulty problems." Since 2015, we have developed this system based on the idea of integrating the traditional weaving process of the East into the structure of the building. Huang Weixin introduced that after years of research and development, based on the grid reconstruction algorithm of the woven structure generation technology, the team developed the "woven space mesh shell", which not only improved the richness of the building performance, but also reduced the cost. For example, if 3D printing technology is used to achieve a three-dimensional structure, it is much more expensive than the weaving structure.
The system generates a braided curved structure, and then makes the members of the glass fiber, stitches the members out according to the design drawings, and injects the luminous lines into it, and the three-dimensional structure of the shining is presented.
Huang Weixin introduced that after five or six years of technological exploration and practice, this research and development achievement has been repeatedly featured in national exhibitions and world-class architectural competitions. For example, the team once completed a light installation of a "Mobius Ring" woven structure at the Harbin Ice and Snow Construction Competition, and also won awards in international architectural competitions, and the technical methods have gradually matured. In 2020, the team received the task of dressing up the "Ice Cube" South Square, that is, using the "woven space mesh shell" technology to make light art installations, improve the city's public cultural life during the Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games, and activate the night economy.
There is also a "Edelweiss Star" model at the entrance of the Building Hall of Tsinghua University. Photo / Beijing News reporter Liu Yang
Huang Weixin introduced that before the "Edelweiss Star", the team proposed multiple rounds of plans, such as the first plan is to create a set of "teardrop-shaped" lighting devices, people can shuttle through it. There was also a more challenging design – weaving a lighting installation for a giant athlete... In the end, the team and experts together chose the "big snowflake", which is a design direction that better reflects the spirit of the Winter Olympics.
Specially upgraded materials to make "Snowflakes" look good during the day
After determining the theme of "snowflakes", there is still a process of thinking about the "three-dimensional snowflakes" currently presented. The snowflakes you see in the south square of the "Ice Cube" today seem to have a complex structure, but in fact, from a geometric point of view, it is a regular twenty-sided body where each side is "surfaced".
Huang Weixin introduced that if a flat snowflake shines in the square, people will only see a "flat piece" when they go to the side, and the expression is not rich enough. The regular icosahedron allows one to see the richly structured snowflakes from any angle, and the eight sculptures are different. The team made a unique design for the curved snowflake weaving structure, adjusting the curvature of each member. The eight snowflakes in the display vary in size, with the largest being 7 meters high and the smaller ones more than 2 meters high, "so that if they are distributed in the square, they will also have a more vivid performance."
In the process of research and development, the team has experienced technical problems such as topology algorithms, structural performance to engineering production, etc., and has also achieved a series of innovative technical achievements.
Huang Weixin introduced that the light-emitting devices previously displayed in other exhibition areas are made of fiberglass members, which are convenient to make, but the light-emitting lamps are installed on the surface, which is not only durable, but also the effect of close-up during the day is not exquisite. Therefore, starting from the architect's intuition, the "Edelweiss Star" material is upgraded, the aluminum alloy material is used as a member, the spatial structure is spelled out, and the complex line is put into the aluminum alloy rod. In this way, during the day, the "big snowflakes" that everyone sees are clean and neat metal structures. "It takes a lot of thought behind the scenes, the wires need to be planned well, and the wires cannot be seen on the surface during the day, which is what we as architects pursue, and the details are clean and pure." Huang Weixin said that in this repeated design and research, the team has also been trained, and the students have turned the impossible into reality.
"Edelweiss" detail, the strip of lights is hidden in the members. Courtesy of respondents
The moment when eight "Edelweiss stars" of different sizes were placed in the "Ice Cube" square and the lights were lit up, it was the most exciting moment for all the team. Huang Weixin said that because of the circuit involved, the eight "Edelweiss Stars" need to be installed in advance for each wire and cover, and then transported to the site for further assembly. At that time, everyone was busy all night in the cold winter, and after the completion, when a ray of sunlight hit the surface of the snowflakes in the morning, Huang Weixin's assistant quickly snapped a photo, "This is a proof that it is also very good to look at when you are close." ”
According to reports, the "Edelweiss Star" Winter Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games will be displayed in the square, and the research team also expects that this design result can be permanently preserved in the Olympic Square, which has hosted two Olympic Games.
Beijing News reporter Liu Yang Editor Miao Chenxia Proofreader Fu Chunyan