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Knitnervi is a pavilion-scale demonstration of a ribbed concrete shell constructed with a flexible formwork system. A bending-active gridshell serves as falsework and reinforcement and is encased by CNC-knitted shuttering. Knitnervi project by the Block Research Group (BRG) at ETH Zurich and Dr. Mariana Popescu from the Faculty of Civil Engineering and Geosciences at Delft University of Technology, constructed for the exhibition “Technoscape: The architecture of engineers” at the MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, Italy, 2022.
KnitNervi takes inspiration from Pier Luigi Nervi’s pioneering Palazzetto dello Sport to reimagine ribbed, thin-shell, reinforced-concrete construction. By proposing a construction system that eliminates the need for complex, wasteful molds, the project departs from the prefabrication and standardization paradigms that enable expressive and efficient concrete shells.
The installation is a ribbed reinforced concrete shell formwork system on a flexible formwork system. The form’s highly articulated, doubly-curved geometry was discovered to act in pure compression with a tension ring at its perimeter. A bending-active gridshell serves as the primary formwork structure as well as the integrated reinforcement of the final concrete shell. KnitCrete encapsulates the expressive geometry, a CNC-knitted flexible stay-in-place shuttering.
The pavilion shell is 9.0m x 9.0m x 3.3m and has a covered area of 56.6 sqm. The weight of steel reinforcement is 533 kg, and the weight of the formwork system is 10.8 kg/sqm.
Part of the Technoscape exhibition at the MAXXI, KnitNervi offers a roadmap for interdisciplinary co-development in architecture, engineering, and construction. The ambition is to nurture a conversation on sustainable and structurally-efficient architecture in the XXIst century.
ETH Zurich – Block Research Group (BRG) & TU Delft – Prof. Mariana Popescu Location: MAXXI National Museum of 21st Century Arts, Rome, Italy Design ETHZ BRG: Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Serban Bodea, Tom Van Mele, Philippe Block TUDelft: Mariana Popescu, Nikoletta Christidi Structural engineering ETHZ BRG: Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Philippe Block Knitted formwork TUDelft: Mariana Popescu, Nikoletta Christidi Fabrication and construction ETHZ BRG: Kerstin Spiekermann, Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Serban Bodea, with support of Eva Schnewly, Damaris Eschbach, Rolf Imseng, Stefan Liniger TUDelft: Mariana Popescu, Nikoletta Christidi Project and site construction coordination ETHZ BRG: Serban Bodea TUDelft: Mariana Popescu The exhibition content, coordination, and curation ETHZ BRG: Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Serban Bodea, Mariana Popescu, Kerstin Spiekermann, Noelle Paulson, Katharina Haake, Philippe Block with support of Eva Schnewly, Rolf Imseng Sponsors: NCCR Digital Fabrication, ETH Zurich, Debrunner Acifer, Doka Switzerland and Italy, Jakob Rope Systems, NOWN, Symme3D Documentation and Video Footage: Thom de Bie, Mariana Popescu, Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Serban Bodea Editing: Thom de Bie Animations: Lotte Scheder-Bieschin, Michele Capelli
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