Perforated Masonry and Polybrick Honored in New Material Exploration Category

Perforated Masonry, submitted by Damon Bolhassani, Assistant Professor, PhD., PE. at City College of New York and architectural student Ahmed Helal, was recognized in a new material exploration category for young architects and engineers.

The project proves the feasibility of a 400-year-old double-curvature masonry arch bridge designed by Leonardo DaVinci, that was considered a risky endeavor at the time, and therefore, never built. Bolhassani and Helal performed a rigorous analysis to prove the structural feasibility of DaVinci’s design. They found that DaVinci’s 2D drawing reflected the principles of geometrical equilibrium, which has only recently been developed with the help of computational frameworks.

After proving the structural feasibility, the team built a replica of DaVinci's design with almost 70% less use of materials, using Rhino Vault, a funicular form finding software.

https://info.imiweb.org/blog/2022-jbc-masonry-innovation-winners-showcase-inspiring-possibilities-for-design-and-construction