chapelle ardente is a design project I've developed at university. The
course of Prof. Y.Weinand proposed to start first with some real complex shape and to
go then further in order to find constructive solutions for these new kinds of geometry.
The design studio also included a collaboration with students of civil engineering. The
task was about to proof the capability to deal with highly complex geometries, to
find constructive detailing, and to simulate the overall structural integrity.

The main lesson of this studio was about the use of new technologies. They
do not simply allow to design and the generation of images of fancy free form
shapes or blobs. They constitute a more and more important link between the different
participants of the building process. A computer file defined the geometry of the laid
out design. The same file was taken by the engineer to simulate structural test which
allowed to dimension the structural elements. Further, the file was used to build models
by different rapid prototyping procedures.

2003, project by:

Student:     Ivo Stotz
Professor:   Y.Weinand
Assistants:  Fred Hatt, Patrick Corbat