ABSTRACT
In the event sector, temporary structures are often left behind after use, ready to be thrown away. This leads to increased waste and CO2 emissions. However, if 75% of structures were reusable, waste production would be up to 3.5 times lower. By designing these temporary structures to be lightweight, modular and reconfigurable, they are more efficient for short term use and reuse. However, current solutions lack variation to achieve different configurations and are difficult to assemble. When multiple configurations are possible, they usually consist only of beams and do not include walls or provide coverage.
This research focuses on a lightweight plate-based building system for temporary reconfigurable and structural applications. The aim is to illustrate and showcase that with a small range of distinct reusable plate components and reversible connections, a large variety of interesting spatial structures can be created for the event sector. The research presented in this paper focuses on an adaptable connection system that allows easy assembly and disassembly while maintaining structural integrity across multiple configurations. The study shows that angulated profiles and hinged connections hold the most potential for the reconfigurable modular plate structure. However, further optimization is needed to strike a balance between flexibility and stiffness.
