GCD25 Workshop on Pressure Based Motion

Organized in cooperation with the SFB Advanced Computational Design and the TachiLab.

Time:	Nov 24-28, 2025
Venue:	Modelliersaal, Karlsplatz 13, TU Wien, Vienna, Austria

Workshop objectives:
In this workshop participants will work in groups to build foldable air-pressure-driven mechanisms, which should be designed covering a rectangular which allows e.g.
      (a) an actuation from its deployed state into a compact one (folding system) and/or
      (b) an actuated morphing of its shape and/or
      (c) an actuated change of the porosity to act e.g. as shading/ventilation device and/or
      (d) an actuated spatial change.

The participants will develop the concepts through digital modeling and physical prototyping and build the table-top size models using digital fabrication tools. Constructed structures will be presented and discussed at the GCD Symposium for novelty of ideas and structural performance. In preparation to the workshop a series of weekly lectures will be given via Zoom starting in October until the workshop.

The interdisciplinary workshop team will provide and share their expert knowledge as well as their long experience, for a collaborative problem-solving workshop. The workshop should be an open space for students, researchers and practitioners to develop interesting ideas and hopefully new collaborations. Therefore, we encourage participants as well as tutors to give lightning talks at the beginning of the workshop.

Participants requirements:

Required skills:	1. Ability to give short talks about what they do. 2. Min. one semester learning of CAD (e.g., Rhino / Grashopper) 3. Digital fabrication experience in design or research project
Required software:	Rhino / Grasshopper.
Required hardware:	Bring your own laptop.

Target group:
Students, researchers or practitioners in architectural geometry or geometric structures

Registration:
Besides invited participants there are only ~10 slots left which can be filled by registration!
For registration please write an email to nawratil@geometrie.tuwien.ac.at including name, affiliation, role (MSc, PhD, PostDoc, etc.) and if available personal or research group website. The registration fee is 350 € (300 € for members of the AdvanceAEC Network) covering material costs, coffee breaks, as well as the workshop dinner on Nov 28th.
Attendees will be awarded with 2.5 ECTS credits.

Lecture series ahead of the GCD25 Workshop:

This lecture series consists of the following six lectures. For details (abstracts and how these lectures are linked to the aims and scope of the GCD25 Workshop) please see this PDF.

Lecture 1:	Date:	Oct 8 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	Straight-, curved- and structural-folds
	Lecturers:	Klara Mundilova (EPFL) and Rupert Maleczek (Uni Innsbruck)
Lecture 2:	Date:	Oct 15 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	Types of flexion
	Lecturer:	Georg Nawratil (TU Wien)
Lecture 3:	Date:	Oct 22 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	Direct design of flexible planar quad surfaces via control polylines
	Lecturers:	Kiumars Sharifmoghaddam (TU Wien) and Georg Nawratil (TU Wien)
Lecture 4:	Date:	Oct 29 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	From straight cylindrical air pouches to curved folding origami
	Lecturers:	Yiwei Zhang (TachiLab) and Tomohiro Tachi (TachiLab)
Lecture 5:	Date:	Nov 5 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	Inverse design of surface-based inflatables
	Lecturer:	Mark Pauly (EPFL)
Lecture 6:	Date:	Nov 19 at 10am (CET)
	Title:	Designing surface-based inflatables with analog methods
	Lecturer:	Duks Koschitz (Pratt Institute)

Procedure and scheduled program:

Day 1:	08:30-09:00	Registration
	09:00-10:30	Opening and explanation of the workshop and introduction of the Workshop Team
	10:30-12:30	Lightning talks from participants covering, self-introduction, previous work & first ideas
	12:30-14:00	Lunch Break
	14:00-15:00	Demonstration of fabrication techniques
	15:00-16:30	Brainstorming and formation of teams (4-5 people)
	16:30-18:00	Team discussion and preliminary designs
Day 2:	08:30-09:30	Team update-presentations and discussion
	09:30-12:00	Team-specific fabrication techniques and software tools
	12:00-13:30	Lunch Break
	13:30-16:00	Iteration of designs
	16:00-18:00	Team-specific fabrication techniques and software tools
Day 3:	08:30-09:30	Team update-presentations and discussion
	09:30-12:00	Iteration of designs
	12:00-13:30	Lunch Break
	13:30-18:00	Fabrication tests and finalizing the design
Day 4:	08:30-09:30	Team update-presentations and discussion
	09:30-12:00	Fabrication and assembly
	12:00-13:30	Lunch Break
	13:30-18:00	Fabrication and assembly
Day 5:	09:00-12:15	GCD25 Symposium
	12:15-14:00	Lunch Break
	14:00-18:00	GCD25 Symposium
	19:00	Workshop Dinner

Workshop Organizing Committee:
Rupert Maleczek (University of Innsbruck)
Georg Nawratil (TU Wien)
Kiumars Sharifmoghaddam (TU Wien)
Tomohiro Tachi (TachiLab, University of Tokyo)

Workshop Scientific Team:
Matthew Gardiner (Ars Electronica Futurelab)
Ursula Klein (University of Applied Arts Vienna, company „schulteswien”)
Duks Koschitz (Pratt Institute, NY)
Maya Kraft (ISTA)
Klara Mundilova (EPFL)
Marco Palma (TU Wien)
Mark Pauly (EPFL)
Florian Rist (KAUST, TU Wien)
Yiwei Zhang (TachiLab, University of Tokyo)