image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


'boxel' is an experimental pavilion designed and realized by students of the architecture
department on the campus of the university of applied sciences in detmold, germany.
the expressive design by henri schweynoch creates a spatial scenery for presentations,
concerts, events and gatherings on the campus. as part of the digital design course,
the students were not only asked to conceptualize a summer pavilion but also to construct
and realize the design as a mock-up in scale 1:1, using digital design and fabrication tools.



image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


the building shape is based on a minimal surface and consists of more than 2.000 beer
boxes that are organized along the free form geometry. the temporary construction was
designed using parametric software to control the position of the boxes in relation to
the overall geometry and to analyze the structural performance.


image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


in order to define the construction concept and the detailing of the connection several
static load tests were made to understand the structural behaviour of the unusual building
material, especially since the empty beer boxes were not stacked onto but freely organized
next to each other. in parallel to a series of shearing and bending tests in the university’s
laboratory of material research the structural concept was simulated and optimized using
fem-software.




image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


finally a simple system of slats and screws was chosen for the assembly of the pavilion
that allowed for a flexible and invisible connection. additional bracings were placed in
the upper part of the boxes to generate the required stiffness of the modules. the structural
load transfer was realized by concrete-lined boxes at the three base points that served
as foundation for the pavilion.



image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


the students involved in the completion of 'boxel' were: henri schweynoch (design),
guido spriewald, elena daweke, lisa hagemann, bernd benkel, thomas serwas michael brezina,
samin magriso, caroline zij, michelle layahou with jan bienek, christoph strotmann,
matthias kemper, frank püchner, florian tolksdorf, florian nienhaus, andre osterhaus,
viktoria vaintraub, jörg linden, bianca mohr, kristina schmolinski and tobias jonk.




image © dirk schelpmeier and marcus brehm.


'boxel' was led by professor marco hemmerling and visiting professors matthias michl,
david lemberski, guido brand and claus deis.