The Victoria and Albert Museum has unveiled its latest installation: the Elytra Filament Pavilion, a project displaying the culmination of four years of research on the integration of architecture, engineering, and biomimicry principles, in an exploration of how biological fiber systems can be transferred to architecture.

© NAARO via the V&A

The Victoria and Albert Museum has unveiled its latest installation: the Elytra Filament Pavilion, a project displaying the culmination of four years of research on the integration of architecture, engineering, and biomimicry principles, in an exploration of how biological fiber systems can be transferred to architecture.The 200-square-meter structure is inspired by lightweight construction principles found in nature, namely "the fibrous structures of the forewing shells of flying beetles known as elytra," states a press release.
© NAARO via the V&A

The pavilion?s canopy is made up of 40 hexagonal component cells, each weighing an average of 45 kilograms. These cells were constructed over a four-month period by a robot at the University of Stuttgart and assembled on site at the Victoria and Albert?s John Madejski Garden.

© NAARO via the V&A

Elytra will grow and change in configuration over the course of the Victoria and Albert Engineering Season in response to anonymous data captured by real-time sensors of how visitors use and move under the canopy. Data will be m...