The Form and Force international conference, organized by CIMNE, was held at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Barcelona, Spain, on October 7-10^th 2019.

View of the main Auditorium

Form and Force has incorporated the 2019 Symposium of the International Association of Shells and Spatial Structures (IASS), celebrating its 60^th anniversary this year, and the Structural Membranes 2019 Conference organized biannually by CIMNE.

The technical sessions of the conference were complemented by an exhibition of 34 structural models of innovative light-weight structures designed and built by groups of young engineers and architects from 25 different countries.

The announcement of the conference

The title of the conference, Form and Force, reflects a shared idea of all those concerned with innovation in structures: the interplay between structural form and physical forces which is key to understanding behaviour, improving design, achieving beauty, increasing efficiency and reducing carbon footprint. Tension and membrane structures, shells and spatial structures show, better than any other structural type, that shape and stress, form and force, are deeply interrelated. This relationship reaches well beyond purely static aspects and has an impact on performance, design, environment and aesthetics of structures in multiple fields of application.

View of conference banquet at Atarazanas (medieval shipyards of Barcelona)

The conference has gathered over 800 participants from 48 different countries worldwide. The technical programme included 600 technical presentations distributed in some 100 parallel sessions.

The conference presentations have covered the following topics:

View of transparent inflatable pavilion used as conference secretariat designed by pms. See video in Youtube Channel)

Video of exhibition of structural models. See video in Youtube Channel)