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# Material: Wood

Timber Syntax: A Computational Pipeline for Assembling Non-Homogeneous Timber

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MRAC-02 2024-2025

In the pursuit of a sustainable built environment, Timber Syntax demonstrates how reclaimed, non-homogeneous timber can be transformed into high-quality facade systems through a computational and robotic pipeline. Developed at the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC), this project bridges waste reuse, advanced fabrication, and circular design to propose a new paradigm for timber … Read more

THE TERRACOTTA LUNG – Breathing comfort through clay.

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MAA-01 2024-2025

Introduction This project explores a double landscape approach, bridging a student accommodation in the city with an ecological extraction site in the Collserola foothills. It establishes a material and climatic dialogue between the two contexts: one as a site of inhabitation, the other as a site of making. At its core is a breathing terracotta … Read more

KINXA | The future built with tradition

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MAA-01 2024-2025

Vernacular architecture has steadily lost relevance in contemporary practice. Industrialized construction methods, aesthetic shifts, and the pursuit of perceived reliability in materials like concrete and steel have overshadowed traditional techniques. However, these modern materials often come at a high environmental cost. Among the overlooked methods is quincha, a construction technique common in Latin America. It … Read more

Re- Rio Infrastructural Justice

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MAA 2024-2025

Re-Rio is a vision to bring dignity, connection, and opportunity to the Gradim fishing community in Rio de Janeiro. Faced with poor infrastructure and social neglect, this project reimagines housing and public space through sustainable, affordable, and flexible design. It creates cool, breathable homes, shared learning spaces, and eco-tourism paths that celebrate local culture. By … Read more

STUDIO III _ ANATOMY OF A SYSTEM : UnLog

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MRAC-01 2024-2025

Why – Problem context In the current forestry industry, only 40% of each harvested tree is actually used for construction or valuable products. The remaining 60% often ends up as waste — discarded, chipped, or burned as firewood. This imbalance sparked a fundamental question:Can we change this ratio? Driven by that inquiry, we began exploring … Read more

Framing Irregularity

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MAEBB 2024-2025

Designing Adaptive Framing System forWarped Wood: Exploring in to framing system thataccommodates different warped pieces of planks caused by uneven anisotropic bending characteristics of Pine Wood forfunctional applications in architectural design and construction. How can we create a Adaptable Frame System that accommodates different warped wooden pieces resulting from uneven anisotropic drying behavior of pine … Read more

AIbotix: Optimizing Construction Workflows Through Spatial Cognition and an AI Agent in Robotics

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MRAC-02 2024-2025

“Spatial Cognition in Robotics: Optimizing Construction Workflow with AI”Shu Xiao – MRAC02 Thesis, IAAC 2024–2025 Despite advances in manufacturing automation, the construction industry continues to rely heavily on manual labor due to its unpredictable environment, safety concerns, and fragmented workflows. This project explores how vision-guided robotics and real-time AI agents can close that gap by … Read more

Low CO2 Social Housing 

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MAA-01 2024-2025

Project by Saad Khan , Sai Mohan Satwik and Baran Koc INTRODUCTION Our group was assigned to study the TMDC building, focusing on its material composition, spatial qualities, and potential for on-site material reuse. The goal is to explore how the existing structure can become a source for recycled construction materials, which we would then … Read more

Estación Regenerativa

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MaUP 2024-2025

Infiltraciones en el Barrio Ferroviario de San Juan. Artes, Oficios & Rituales. Huellas Ferroviarias El 2 de abril de 1885 llega el ferrocarril a la Provincia de San Juan. Su llegada fue indispensable y fundamental, junto a la inmigración europea. En el año 1948, el presidente de la República Argentina, Juan Domingo Perón, nacionalizó los … Read more

Applied Theory III _ Un_Log Factory

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MRAC-01 2024-2025

INTRODUCTION In today’s construction industry, a large portion of timber is discarded due to its non-standard shape, curvature, or internal defects. Un_Log Factory challenges this paradigm by proposing a digitally augmented fabrication system that embraces the natural irregularity of timber. Instead of seeing bent or cracked logs as waste, our process redefines them as raw … Read more

KINXA | Frame Optimization with Karamba

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MAA-01 2024-2025

Our goal for this Computational Design assignment was using Karamba along with Wallacei to optimize the mass and deformation of the timber frames of our construction system called KINXA. It is a modernized version of the vernacular technique used in Latin America called “Quincha” which consists of the use of a wood or cane frame, … Read more

DIGITAL WOODCRAFT

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MAA-01 2024-2025

After spending some time learning about timber joinery last term, this term was all about implementing these logics onto a larger and more complex system: a small chunk of a bird observatory. We designed and made all of the beams that comprised the chunk, which were all unique to one another. Some were straight, others … Read more

Valldaura D&D Kit

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MAEBB 2024-2025

Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) is a tabletop role-playing game where players create characters and embark on adventures guided by a Dungeon Master. Through storytelling, strategy, and dice rolls, players explore worlds, battle foes, and solve challenges in an open-ended, cooperative experience. The game is played using polyhedral dices, character sheets, and often miniatures on gridded … Read more

Software III _ UN_LOG FACTORY

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MRAC-01 2024-2025

Github : https://github.com/Clarrainl/UN_LOG-Factory | INTRODUCTION | Detecting wood defects in 3D-scanned logs using Machine Learning In the timber industry, a significant portion of wood gets discarded due to irregularities or defects that make it unusable under standard practices. However, many of these logs can still be used creatively or structurally if properly understood and classified. This project … Read more

Terraweave: Innovative Structures for a Changing World

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MRAC-01 2024-2025
terraweave

Introduction In the face of the growing demand for sustainable construction, the integration of renewable materials with advanced fabrication techniques is essential for creating adaptable and efficient structures. Our team developed Terraweave, a project that combines willow and earth to create hybrid building components. By leveraging the natural properties of willow for flexibility and earth … Read more

Sticks & Stones: Precision in Robotic Fabrication with Traditional Materials

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MRAC-01 2024-2025

In an era dominated by concrete and steel, the Sticks & Stones project revisits the architectural potential of stone and timber—materials with a rich historical legacy—through the precision of robotic fabrication. This initiative sought to develop a reversible, precise architectural system that bridges traditional craftsmanship with advanced digital tools. By tackling the challenges of natural … Read more