Transformability in adaptive structures of Frei Otto and beyond

Adaptive structures can conform to external changing conditions, in order to improve their functional, energy related and/or load-bearing behavior. Structural adaptation can be depicted in the work of Frei Otto on lightweight tensile structures and elastic gridshells of reduced structural mass and materials with high strength and relatively low elastic modulus respectively. The main developments achieved were based on transformability in the structural simulation and erection process. Representative examples include the Olympic Stadium in Munich in 1972 and the Mannheim Multihalle in 1975 respectively. With the rise of digital and numerical technology in the last 20 years, Frei Otto’s ideas and concepts are even more important and relevant today than they were half a century ago when they first emerged. Meanwhile, research and development of actual adaptive structures are based on the afore-mentioned principles of form variation and lightweight, as well as on aspects of flexibility, controllability and simplicity in kinematics. In achieving this, the development of adaptive structures with minimum embedded actuation and maximum possible output structural states, gains significance. Selected prototype developments demonstrate related achievements in the area.