Frie Otto – Modeling with Soap Films (c. 1961) [video]

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18 points·rfreytag··4 comments

Soap bubbles behave kind of like catenary curves. They want to minimize their surface area (which has potential energy), but also want to reduce their gravitational potential energy. The surface tension of bubbles behaves much like elasticity of thin solids.

It makes sense then that this would be a useful model for shapes of elastic structures whose thickness is much smaller than the horizontal length scale. Such structures should be built to be in an energetically favorable configuration, otherwise they'll sag like a loosely-pitched tent.

Yes, have a look at this study for visuals: https://wewanttolearn.wordpress.com/2012/11/14/plateaus-laws...

That is a nice Grasshopper project. This application of Plateau's laws is limited to an idealised and very regular geometric situation, though. More general problems can be solved with the Surface Evolver, which, like Frei Otto's form finding experiments, can evolve membranes (starting from a certain initial configuration and geometric constraints) under gravity and particular bending energies. http://facstaff.susqu.edu/brakke/evolver/

The Willmore energy is a neat way to get smooth or "fair" bubble-like surfaces. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willmore_energy

1. Frei Otto. (not Frie)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frei_Otto

2. He did the Olympic Stadion in Munich

(Yup, the Soap Films)

http://stadiumdb.com/pictures/stadiums/ger/olympiastadion_mu...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympiastadion_(Munich)

3. I live in a house created (in part) by him, the Ökohaus Berlin

https://www.the-offbeats.com/articles/building-together-the-...

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