The seminar focuses on the unique merge of digitalisation, material performance and craft. Through processes of material manipulation, Digital Woodcraft explores the possibilities of (robotic) fabrication of wood structures. The aim is to analyse and materialize the potential of wood-work within a framework of computation and fabrication towards sustainable design solutions.
The deepening climate crisis amidst a rapidly growing human population requires a radical shift towards more sustainable and resource-efficient methods of construction. Timber – a renewable and familiar biogenic resource – is at the forefront of this necessary transformation of the construction industry. Its potential for use in demanding applications and complex structures at large scales has been demonstrated time and time again. The large and varied palette of engineered timber products demonstrate all the ways in which timber can be aggregated, assembled, and allocated to meet a particular design challenge.
But timber is a fickle and complex material. Its biogenic origins are at the root of this difficulty: long cellular growth in layered and branching fibre topologies results in highly anisotropic behaviour and a very heterogeneous distribution of material properties. Its nature must be understood in order to effectively wield it towards ambitious architectural objectives.
This seminar will tackle the difficulties and peculiarities of designing and fabricating timber architecture and present visions of future timber architecture that leverage contemporary capacities for representing, simulating, and analysing wood elements. Students will be familiarised with the current state of the art in timber design, digital modelling, and construction. They will use this knowledge to explore, speculate, and propose ambitious new visions of future timber architecture, guided by a sensibility towards material affordances, notions of a sited and contextualised resource, and a critical approach to circularity, adaptation, and material life cycles.
At course completion the student should be able to:
This term, we concentrated on learning new fabrication techniques. From our previous site, we selected the Keeper’s Lodge as the focus for reimagining with timber structures. Our goal was to design a structure that would envelop and enhance the existing Keeper’s Lodge. The section below was selected to be fabricated at a 1:2 scale. The … Read more
This square building was designed by Elies Regent in neo-Gothic style. From thi lodge the reservoir keeper controlled water levels and managed the opening and closing of the dam gates. This building has been restored as ,faithfully as possible to the original. At present the ground floor hosts an exhibition of the reservoir’s history and … Read more
CONTEXT STRUCTURE This project focuses on the Column-Beam Connection within the larger post-and-beam frame structure. While seemingly simple, these connections require intricate detailing to seamlessly resolve multi-element node connections. Our design involved integrating two perpendicular columns into a monolithic L-shaped column, securing two additional beams in the process. Through digital modelling, we adopted a multilayered … Read more
Developing visions of a future forest architecture, in Valvidrera Reservoir; a landscape that provides accesibility to, flora, fauna and open space to surrounding communities. LEARNING OBJECTIVES To gain an understanding of digital modelling of complex timber structures. To demonstrate an understanding of design-to-fabrication workflows and principles. To demonstrate an understand of digital fabrication methodologies for … Read more
CONCEPT DESIGN INTENT BAUBOTANIK DESIGN GUIDELINES GROWTH DESIGN TECHNIQUES STATE OF THE ART – I STATE OF THE ART – II STATE OF THE ART – REFERENCES SITE SITE Intervention Space PHOTOGRAMMETRY STUDIES CONCEPTUAL SKETCH – IDEATION 01 DETAILS – IDEATION 01 SPATIAL OPTIMISATION – Based on Tree Positions WOOD – TYPOLOGY RECIPROCAL FRAMES RF … Read more
