HEXASTONE

Design for disassembly

The Hexastone Pavilion, a collaboration between Technische Hochschule Lübeck, Vertico, and Sika, is a 4.5-meter diameter dome composed of 102 unique interlocking stones. Each stone was 3D-printed over two days, utilizing a fully digitized process that allows for a vast range of geometries. The pavilion’s design employs a computational form-finding process to create a compression-only shell structure. Designed with sustainability in mind, the pavilion embraces a “Design for Disassembly” approach. The shell is tessellated into planar hexagonal tiles, facilitating efficient printing on a flat bed and simplifying the connections between individual stones. Unlike traditional brickwork that uses tapered mortar joints to achieve curvature, Hexastone generates curvature through the individually inclined perimeters of each hexagonal stone, resulting in parallel crevices between them. Contact surfaces are coated with a non-adhesive agent to prevent tensile force transfer and facilitate easier disassembly, promoting a sustainable construction methodology.