z3rch

Kategorie: Free form Structure

  • Lima University, Peru (2020)

    Lima University, Peru (2020)

    Project Data

    Design: Cidelsa
    Client: Cidelsa
    Structure: Free form neumatic structure, ETFE foil cushions + steel borders
    Material: ETFE natural + printed, Aluminum borders + Steel Structure
    Covered Area: 380 sqm
    Photos: Cidelsa

    Z3RCH:
    –Design and Engineering of ETFE cushion system.
    -Statics and Form Finding for ETFE cushions.
    -Definition o work pressure.
    -Detailing connections.
    -Cutting Patterns of ETFE foil.

    At the end of 2019, the firm CIDELSA contact us to help them develop what would be the first ETFE Cushion Roof in Perú. The project was to cover the inner court of the new
    building of the University of Lima, a building with LEED certification.

    The project consist of 22 ETFE cushion with a triangular form. These cushion are fixed on the border to a steel structure. The ETFE cushion boders spans up to ten meters on the longest side. The work of z3rch was mostly to advice the client on the design process of ETFE cushions, since they can not build in every form and dimension. After this design process was achieved we were able to finalize the calculation and produce the pattern to be able to build the ETFE panels.

    After the realization of the project, Perú has it first ETFE cushion roof oh his Architectural history.

  • Red Sea Mall ETFE skylight (2018)

    Red Sea Mall ETFE skylight (2018)

    Project Data

    Architect: Midrar Consulting
    Z3RCH: Engineering ETFE cushion and cable net + cutting patterns
    Client : Gulf Shade
    Structure: Cable net reinforced big ETFE cushion
    Material: ETFE natural / printed + Steel Cables
    Covered area: 760 sqm
    Fotos: Gulf Shade

    The Red Sea Mall will host the first cinema to open in Jeddah. The cinema infraestructure occupies an 8,000 sqm space and will have 1,472 seats in 12 halls, including standard and VIP halls, an IMAX screen, a 4DX auditorium with motion-controlled seats, and halls for children.

    For this new experience for the people of Jeddah we were asked to design the ETFE cushion that covers the opening of the ceiling at the entrance of the cinema. The structure consist of 9 ETFE cushion with different dimensions reinforced by a steel cable net. Every cushion is independent from the other and is made of a 3 layer system to achieve a better thermical insulation.
    The biggest ETFE cushion is 21 x 9 m and describe an oval form.

    The cushions cover approximately 80% of the hall entrance area with a minimum amount of steel structure. This means that we have approximately 80% of natural light that illuminates the main hall of the first cinema in the city of Jeddah, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

  • Nativa shopping mall – Monterrey, Mexico (2014)

    Nativa shopping mall – Monterrey, Mexico (2014)

    Project data

    Design: 3dtex + Lonas Lorenzo
    Engineering ETFE + Detailing: z3rch
    Patterning ETFE: form-TL
    Assembly: Lonas Lorenzo
    Structure: Free form pneumatic structure
    Material: ETFE foil natural + white, Aluminium profiles
    Covered Area: 1.600 sqm
    photos: 3dtex


    Cubierta voronoi is the first ETFE roof in the history of Mexico. The project was concibed to be the meeting point of the new shopping mall in the neighborhood of San Pedro Garza Garcia, Monterrey.
    The structure consist of a tree-like steel masts wich support a “honeycomb” covering steel structure. The panels of the honey were covered by ETFE cushions, this are transparent on the bottom and white on the top. The first project, so its name, was a Voronoy structure, i.e., the surface descripted by the roof was divided into panels by the algorithm developed by Mr. Voronoy.
    This gave a very nice and aesthetic structure, but far away to be built with the budget and time propose by the client. Because of this we rethink and redesing the project, to be able to achieve the schedule and budget proposed the client. In this way was designed a free form steel roof wich was divided into a honeycomb structure. The big achievment of this design was to build the freeform roof only with 5 diferent cushions. In this way all the production process was acelerated and cost for the construction and planning were reduced. Also the assembly process was standarized, and the whole 100 cushion were mounted in only 12 days.

  • Bus terminal Aarau, Switzerland (2013)

    Bus terminal Aarau, Switzerland (2013)

    Project data

    Architect: VJA Architekten
    Engineering: form-tl
    Structure: ETFE pneumatic structure
    Material: ETFE foil, steel + steel cables
    Covered Area: 1.000 sqm
    photos: Eduard Hueber, Niklaus Spoerri, z3rch


  • The Warming Hut – Winnipeg, Canada (2010)

    The Warming Hut – Winnipeg, Canada (2010)

    Project data

    Architect: Lancelot Coar
    Engineer: z3rch
    Structure: Tensile framework for ice layer
    Material: Stretch fabric, fiber glass rebars GFRP + water
    Covered Area: 45 sqm
    photos: Lancelot Coar

    In January of 2012, The Department of Architecture at the University of Manitoba was invited to design and construct a project for the frozen river trail on the Assiniboine and Rivers in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The proposal was to create a structure that would speak to the temporary nature of the site conditions, as well as celebrate and test how the extreme nature of the cold climate might inform a building system that relies on it. As a result a project was proposed to build a fiberglass rebar structure that would support and shape a fabric formed ice skin. Profesor Coar build this experimental “thin shell construction” using the fabric as a formwork for an ice layer. In order to help profesor Coar to determine some site condition we made some analysis and modelling of the rebar structure, membrane and ice layer. In this way we could calculate the fiber glas rebars and determine the load for the anchoring as well as the ice layer thisckness. Although this project was a study of the performance of ice as a rigid compressive material, it was also a study of the construction techniques used to form other phasechanging construction materials.