The Hypar Up pavilion received the first prize in the “Design Competition and Exhibition of Innovative Lightweight Structures 2023”, at the IASS Symposium 2023 in Melbourne, Australia.

Hypar Up is a reconfigurable construction system based on hypar timber components designed by Markus Hudert, László Mangliár (Aarhus University) and fabricated by Sofia Colabella, Michael Mack, Michael Park, Alberto Pugnale, Jack Halls (The University of Melbourne). The timber was donated by Tilling Timber Pty Ltd and the project was supported by MSD Makerspaces, including the hard work of Technicians; Katherine Burns, Daniel Jin & Hesam Mohamed.

Markus Hudert and László Mangliar presented a paper at the IASS Symposium 2023 explaining the design and fabrication of Hypar Up. This experimental pavilion research explores the potential of upcycling scrap wood into hypar-shaped modular construction components to be used as basic units in reusable and reconfigurable construction systems. The work employs empirical methods and a research-by-design approach. This pavilion works as a proof of concept. By investigating reusable and reconfigurable shell-based structures, this work expands on existing research on segmented shells and provides suggestions for moving beyond the use of shell structures as monolithic and static artefacts.

Cover image: Michael Mack

Gallery images by Alberto Pugnale and James Rafferty (The University of Melbourne)