Gajjar Kirtan Prashant

CT2035

Studio Equilibria was a collaborative design-and-make studio that explored form-finding through natural forces, material experimentation, and structural performance. Our focus was on using hanging chain models to study the behavior of catenary curves—shapes that naturally form under gravity and exhibit ideal tension distribution. What made this studio unique was the interdisciplinary collaboration between students of architecture and engineering, allowing us to approach the project from both aesthetic and technical perspectives. While architectural students focused on spatial form and experiential quality, engineering students contributed structural insight, enabling us to refine and analyze the designs through precise calculations. The process began with physical explorations using suspended chains to generate organic, gravity-informed geometries. These were digitally translated, iterated, and structurally analyzed for deflection, material efficiency, and environmental response. The studio culminated in the design and construction of a Large scale prototype model of Hanging Chain exploring the scaled model of it and making in