eQUILIBRIUM
To achieve the main goal of Structural Design I and II, which is to learn how to use the relation between form and forces to design efficient, expressive structures, the Block Research Group developed eQUILIBRIUM (eQ) thanks to an Innovedum grant. eQ is a dynamic, web-based learning environment. It uses interactive, graphic statics-based drawings and other integrated methods to help students of all levels actively develop an intuitive, geometry-based understanding of structures.
Keywords
Course description
Project description
eQUILIBRIUM (eQ) is a comprehensive and dynamic e-learning and e-teaching environment. Specifically designed by the Block Research Group for teaching structural design both within and outside ETH, eQ is a web-based environment driven by a content management system and web development framework. It functions as:
1. a teaching platform: one main section of eQ consists in a library of interactive drawings based on graphic statics and built using GeoGebra. Here students can learn in a visual and intuitive manner how different structural typologies function, but also the tools to design and analyse them. eQ thus enables architects and engineers of all skill levels to deepen their knowledge and understanding of structures in a dynamic manner.
2. a communications platform: not only does eQ convey essential information, including the course's description and learning goals, schedules, grades, and sign-ups for individual consultations, but also includes course content materials such as lectures, exercises, exam solutions, video tutorials, and so on.
eQ’s main characteristics include the following:
? Graphic statics-based: Graphic statics is a powerful method for the design and analysis of structures developed among others by ETH Professor Carl Culmann in the 19th century. By using force polygons and simple geometric construction techniques, this graphical method provides intuitive, visual information
about the relationship between form and forces in a structure. It is a holistic approach that combines design and analysis into a single, rigorous methodology that can be completed using pen and paper.
? Easy to learn, easy to use: using graphic statics, students can create sophisticated designs and perform rigorous, highly accurate analyses without programming skills or in-depth knowledge of complicated mathematical techniques.
? Interactive: the graphic statics drawings in eQ are created using GeoGebra, which is an open source geometry and algebra tool with a dynamic, graphical user interface. In GeoGebra, graphic statics constructions can be created using simple geometric primitives like points, segments, lines and circles and the same techniques used on paper with pencil, ruler, and compass. Afterwards, the drawings can be exported to an applet and embedded in a web page. Both in GeoGebra and in the applets, the objects comprising the construction can be dynamically changed, allowing the relation between form and forces to be explored interactively with real-time, intuitive, and visual feedback.
? Design-oriented: The combination of graphic statics and GeoGebra provides an engaging and approachable way to illustrate and explain the behaviour of structures. It allows users to quickly start making their own drawings for their structural analyses and design explorations from the very beginning of their structural education.
Contact information
Contact
Head of Institute for Technology in Architecture
Professur Architektur und Tragwerk
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1
8093
Zürich
Switzerland
Contact
Inst. f. Technologie in der Arch.
Stefano-Franscini-Platz 1
8093
Zürich
Switzerland
Contact
ETH
Inst. f. Technologie in der Arch.
Stefano-?Franscini-Platz 1
HIB E?45
8093
Zürich
Schweiz
Contact
ETH
Professur für Tragwerksentwurf
Stefano-?Franscini-Platz 1
HIB E?11
8093
Zürich
Schweiz
