220: ‘Lightweight Architectural Structures’, with Joshua Schultz
A conversation with Joshua Schultz about lightweight architectural structures, exploring structural efficiency, innovative design practices, and the barriers preventing their mainstream adoption in architecture.
Joshua Schultz joins the podcast to talk about lightweight structures, including cable nets and glass design, as well as insights from his upcoming book, “Structural Design of Lightweight Structures,” co-authored with Christian Stutzki, highlighting the future of architectural design.
Original episode page: https://trxl.co/220
Some links on this page help fund our work, and we may earn a commission from purchases at no extra cost to you.
Connect with the Guest
- Joshua Schultz
- Get the book: Structural Design of Lightweight Architecture by Joshua Shultz and Christian Stutzki
- Gonzaga University
Books and Philosophies
- Frei Otto – Tensile Structures, Volume 1 & 2
- Wikipedia Overview
- Books on Amazon
- Foundational texts on lightweight, tensile, and membrane structures that directly underpin the ideas discussed in this episode.
Lightweight & Membrane Structures
- Institute for Lightweight Structures (ILEK), Stuttgart
- ILEK Website
- A global leader in research on lightweight, membrane, and adaptive structures.
Computational Design & Analysis Tools
- Rhino + Grasshopper
- Rhino Official Website
- Core platform for exploratory form-finding and early-stage structural thinking.
- Karamba3D
- Karamba3D Official Site
- Structural analysis tool for Grasshopper, commonly used in lightweight and parametric workflows.
- Kangaroo Physics
- Grasshopper Plugin
- Interactive physics engine for form-finding, especially relevant to membranes and tensile systems.
About Joshua Schultz:
Joshua Schultz, PhD, PE, LEED AP is a licensed professional engineer with nearly two decades of experience designing, teaching, and researching lightweight structural systems, particularly structural glass and mass timber. Currently, he is an associate professor of architectural and structural engineering in the department of civil engineering at Gonzaga University. Previously, Joshua worked at both Stutzki Engineering and Skidmore Owings and Merrill (SOM) as a structural engineer for a number of lightweight, high- profile, high- rise buildings around the world. He has designed, researched, and published widely on various lightweight structural systems. Joshua is an American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) ExCEED Fellow as well as the recipient of the inaugural AISC Innovation Scholar Fellowship.
