Structural Design and Analysis of Marinaressa-Coral-Tree (2024-08)¶

This paper describes the structural design and analysis of a lightweight concrete structure—the Marinaressa Coral Tree—presented at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023. The prototype was fabricated using 3D-printed water-soluble sand formwork, which allowed the realization of complex filigree geometries while avoiding production waste by recycling the formwork material directly within the formwork manufacturing process. Production technology prompted us to rethink structural design possibilities and create a design solution that allowed for a 60 % reduction in material consumption compared to a solid structure of the same load-bearing capacity. This paper presents the detailed process of its structural design and analysis, including topological optimization of the global design domain at the macroscale and components at the mesoscale, followed by the structural analysis and validation of the load-bearing capacity of the design solution, as well as its global and local behavior under various loading conditions. The study showed that the spatial concrete lattice structure underlying this approach combines strength, dynamic stability, and lightness and can be helpful in the design of concrete structures with minimal environmental footprint.