GCD25 Workshop on Pressure Based Motion

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

Time:	Nov 24-28, 2025
Venue:	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.

Procedure and scheduled program:

Day 1:	8:30-9:00	Opening and Explanation of the workshop
	9:00-12:00	Lightning talks from participants covering, self-introduction, previous work & first ideas
	13:30-15:00	Brainstorming and formation of Teams (4-5 people)
	15:00-17:00	Team discussion and preliminary designs
	17:00-18:00	Presentations and wrap-up session
Day 2:	8:30-10:00	Session on tools (software)
	10:00-12:00	Design session
	13:30-15:00	Session on fabrication techniques and explaining the workshop facilities
	15:00-17:00	Iteration of designs
	17:00-18:00	Presentations and wrap-up session
Day 3:		Fabrication tests and finalizing the design
Day 4:		Fabrication and assembly
Day 5:		GCD Symposium: Presentation of the results at the GCD exhibition and 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 (University of Innsbruck)
Klara Mundilova (EPFL)
Marco Palma (TU Wien)
Mark Pauly (EPFL)
Samara Ren (ISTA)
Florian Rist (KAUST, TU Wien)
Yiwei Zhang (TachiLab, University of Tokyo)