Form Finding Lab

Come learn about the design and mechanics of bigons and bigon arms at the Final Public Oral Exam of Axel Larsson (.io) on Monday May 4th 2026 at 9AM EDT in Friend 008 at Princeton University or on zoom (link in comments). The official title of his dissertation is “Machine Learning Accelerated Simulation and Design of Multistable Elastic Rod Networks”. Looking forward to seeing you there!
Image credit: Axel Larsson

Living architectures, like beehives and ant bridges, adapt to their environments through self-organization of swarming agents. Most human-made architectures are static, and can’t adapt to changing conditions. In a recent paper published in Science Robotics, Princeton engineers designed the Swarm Garden, a modular architectural facade that integrates swarm intelligence and robotics. Each module, resembling flowers, uses buckling sheet technology to open and close in response to environmental stimuli.

The paper’s lead author is MAE postdoc Merihan Alhafnawi. The project is a collaboration between the labs of Princeton MAE’s Radhika Nagpal and Princeton CEE’s Sigrid Adriaenssens.

Read the paper in Science Robotics: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/scirobotics.ady7233

How can AI advance structural engineering?



AI is reshaping health care, astronomy, and neuroscience—yet in structural engineering, its potential in design, simulation, and control is only beginning.

Last week in Torino, the ARTISTE group at Politecnico di Torino brought together pioneers at the Castello del Valentino. Prof. Sigrid Adriaenssens shared how physics-constrained neural networks can accelerate lightweight structure design (with Rafael Pastrana, Ryan Adams, Isabel Moreira de Oliveira & Eder Medina).

Together with PhD candidate Jonathan Melchiorre, Beppe Marano & Amedeo Manuele, we showed how expert intuition strengthens AI design—earning a presentation award

• Bonus: Prof. Stergios-Aristoteles Mitoulis and Prof. Sigrid Adriaenssens unknowingly matched in pinstripe suits.