Technology: Lightweight construction with plastics
Structural optimisation and lightweight construction are closely interrelated: Lightweight construction is an element of structural optimisation. Nature follows this principle rather 'naturally' and therefore comprises a plethora of lightweight structures. However, technical implementations are characterized by different premises and contexts than natural occurrences. Yet, the principle in question is of outstanding significance in all of these fields. Plastics are highly suitable for lightweight construction. They have a low dead weight, and some plastics combine this characteristic with high stiffness. For these reasons, plastics particularly find use in the high-tech disciplines of aerospace, naval, automotive, and civil engineering (ills. 2, 3, 4). However, they may also find intelligent and economic use in building construction: saving material means reducing costs and preserving resources. Yet, it should be noted that modes of construction and structural concepts, for the most part, can't be directly adapted from nature and other engineering professions, since functions, requirements, and influences are principally different. Air planes and cars generally are serial products, in contrast to buildings. Also, an increase of velocity and reduction of fuel consumption are irrelevant for structural systems in architecture. Reducing weight to the absolutely necessary minimum is based on an optimisation process related to material and geometry. Aside from low weight of construction materials, especially intelligent, geometric design of construction components or the selection of intelligent structural systems designed according to load transmission are of paramount importance: The shapes of lightweight construction aren't accidental. Adequate methods and tools of form finding are available for design processes of today. From a design perspective, lightweight and delicate structures almost seem naturally elegant. A strict implementation of lightweight construction principles constitutes a fundamentally sensible approach for economic, sustainable construction with high-quality design. In this context, the potential that high-performance plastics offer in the field of building envelopes and structural systems requires renewed evaluation, most of all in regard to construction technology, design principles, and methods and processes of dimensioning and manufacturing.
