Plastics are a relatively new material in the history of construction.
Although natural resins and polymers have been used since ancient times, the
chemical compounds associated with modern plastics were dependent on the
advances made during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. As new processes
and methods moved from military use to the mainstream, experiments with these
light and resistant composites changed existing construction materials and
developed new ones. Plywood was one of the groundbreaking uses for polymer
resins. Additionally these compounds gave way to plastics’ use in all building systems.
In the mid 50s, Marvin E Goody and Frank J Hager from the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology explored glass reinforced plastics for buildings. The
MIT researchers united with industries such as Owens Corning to study new
potentials for plastics in architecture. Their work led to an association with
Monsanto on the «all plastic house of the
future» exhibited by Disney from 1957 to 1967 and to a lesser-known project
for a flexible school structure.
The monocoque shell skins for the Monsanto house helped develop an ideal
form- resistant structural shape. The monocoque shells were lightweight and
could be moulded into virtually any profile. In the case of their experimental
elementary school the researchers developed a hyperbolic paraboloid (a curved
surface shaped like a horse saddle) skin composed of a foam insulated core (25
mm) moulded between two thin fiberglass reinforced (1.5 mm) skins.
The «HyPar» shaped were arranged to form a completely open plan that
could evolve according to changing social and academic needs. Each 2.4m x 2.4m
square shell was bolted to a mast that supported four identical shells, which
were also bolted together. The configuration created an uninterrupted modular
4.8m x 4.8m grid of posts that supported a by-directional ribbed surface. Each shell
weighed ten times less than its concrete equivalent would for the same span.
Plastics presented the flexibility of concrete without the weight
limitations. Plastics’ flexibility was emblematic of modern society’s main
constituent: the need for constant change. Social paradigms were being
challenged at an alarming rate. Research in Architecture and building
technology paralleled this social development, as systems’ flexibility became a
focal point for exploration.
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| Experimental School - Ribbed modular «Hypar» glass fibre reinforced roof panels |
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