The Pabellon Onda, designed by Centro de Estudios Superiores de Diseño de Monterrey (CEDIM) – is an avant-garde architectural design project located in Santa Catarina, Mexico. This pavilion of 32 m² was completed in the year 2024 and explores new ways of construction that merge wood and concrete in a shell structure.
The project tries to revive the concept of shell structures, which had their wider acceptance stall in the 1980s due to the rising costs of materials involved, through the advancement in computational design and digital fabrication.
The two-layer shell system comprises a wood formwork and Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete. This serves to combine the best features of both materials: concrete provides very high resistance to compression, while wood provides great tensile flexibility, which results in a much more resilient structure with active bending. It made use of permanent formwork in wood, along with the implementation of innovative construction methods developed collaboratively by students and industry professionals under the academic coordination of Alma Sandra Luevano, together with tutors from renowned architectural firms like UNStudio and ALTERAT.
Hyperbolic Paraboloid Modules
The approach for design explores the usage of geometric repetition through hyperbolic paraboloid modules within a progressive development of fluid, visually appealing forms. These modules, based on the sinusoidal curve, are developed into a computationally generated optimized form of the pavilion using structural analysis and mathematical geometry. The team used parametric digital modeling that could take the surface and divide it into developable strips running in opposite directions with the capability of distributing tension forces across the shell and, hence, stiffening it.
Pabellon Onda has been developed as a research-driven project that will act as a prototype for future, large-scale applications showcasing the possibility of creating large, monumental architectural spaces with these wooden and concrete membranes. In such a way, the maximized balance between form and function delivers not only an advanced design principle but also sustainability in construction through reduced reliance on carbon-intensive materials.
Project Info
Location: Santa Catarina, México
Architects: Centro de Estudios Superiores de Diseño de Monterrey (CEDIM)
Area: 32 m²
Year: 2024
Academic Coordinator: Alma Sandra Luévano
Tutors: Alexandr Kalachev (UNSTUDIO), Djordje Stanojevic (ALTERAT)
Assistants: Ivan Durán (ASTYL), Pamela Álvarez (RENDER)
Students: Luis Arroyo, Monica Camelo, Eliazar Colunga, Daniel De La Garza, Marisol Hernandez, Eduardo Infante, Pedro Jorge, Julia Loredo, Ana Nusken, Miranda Peza, Jessica Robles
Prototype Support: Rodolfo Lavenant, Luis García, Ricardo Antonio, Humberto Zamarron, Alfredo Albino, Yessica Mendez, Victor Mendez
Logistics: Abel Espinosa, Celina Garcia, Andrés Lhima
Consulting Engineers: Maurizio Teora
Concrete Consultants: Diego Herrera
Photographs: Recording Architecture
Suppliers: BIRLOS Y TORNILLOS, El Sabino, STM Robotics, Tercco
