Unfolding Timber - A future of design

2018

The aim of this thesis is to present the outputs of a project in which pattern kerfing techniques are explored for producing responsive freeform panels out of wooden plates. Relevant research such as the ones presented by Ivanisevic (2014), Zarrinmehr et al. (2017) and Ohshima et al. (2013) have shown that it is possible to bend a wooden plate by carving patterns on one or two sides of it. By this means, the plate is able to perform both single and double curved surfaces depending on the pattern design. The main objective of this research is to find out the relationships between the geometric parameters of the pattern and the bending capabilities of the plate and to put forward a formalized method for the design and fabrication of three-dimensional, freeform and responsive surfaces. These findings lead to complex pattern designs which enable the plates to perform three dimensional and freeform curved surfaces. Moreover, these panels can be actuated as responsive building components ...

Future Wood, 2012

Wood and tools. They bring to mind the cabinetmaker’s factory, boat builder’s jigs, the residential construction site, concrete forms and the amateur’s workshop. Each is at the end of conception, where already set ideas become reality. Mostly what is made are the ideas of others-the hand holding the tool is not that of the designer. The history of design would appear to force such a separation between design and its realization. Modern artifacts are complex and demand specialized knowledge and machines for their production. It is easy, or at least expedient, for designers to leave tools and materials to others. Sadly, the common view that designers are ungrounded in practical reality may be simple historical necessity. This book is a bridge. Its contributors, designers all, show how new tools can span the historical gap between thought and hand, between idea and materiality. Contemporary computer-aided design systems and digital fabrication machines allow us to bend the process of design in on itself, to connect its start and finish. Both computation and physical machines are tools for developing the substance of design. Computational tools enliven the sketch. Once modeled inside a computer, a sketch becomes plastic. We develop, refine and adapt it to context. We create alternative sketches in the hundreds. Digital fabrication makes these sketches physical, as models, prototypes and built form. Th e loop closes as we use the physical sketch to inform the world of ideas. And the world of ideas changes as we learn the consequences of our design choices.

… Conference Generative Art, 2005

This paper explains some concepts used by the designtoproduction group at the Chair of CAAD to materialise complex form by example of three recent projects that were realised in collaboration with different partners: First, a platform for the exhibition “Inventioneering Architecture” in ...

Exploring Folded Plate Design in Realized Works of Varied Scale and Materials , 2019

Folded plate behavior can be used very efficiently in structural design with various materials and scales of structures. In this paper, our recent explorative case studies in creative and innovative folded plate design and constructions will be presented in timber, concrete, and steel folded plate structures. The examples are for school building roofs, an archeological protection roof, floor systems in ecological architecture, and floors in a residential building. The projects vary in size from a couple of hundred square meters to thousands, in the coverage area. 5 projects in total will be presented. A timber-and-steel composite roof covered ancient city ruins where archeological park protection required column-free, asymmetric, and flexible design for a roof. Solid Timber was used in two of the innovative folded plate architectural covers. Traditional steel-brick vaulted floors were replaced with concrete vaults in a similar concept for a residential multi-story building. And lastly, a timber frame roof that resembles a classic gabled roof from the exterior was made into an effective beam-purlin folded structure with vertical attic posts removed to create a spacious teachers' room for the art studies building.

2021

The project seeks to create a building envelope that functions as structure, enclosure, and insulation,which is assembled from one solid timber construction element type. Wood has clear environmentalbenefits when compared to other standard construction materials such as steel and concrete, a goodstrength-to-weight ratio, relatively high thermal insulation, and low production costs. This researchseeks to leverage these characteristics to simultaneously reduce the number of material layers intimber building envelopes while improving the building physics performance. Thus, the environmentalimpact of buildings can be reduced during planning, construction, operation, and disposal. The projectproposes a system that reduces material layers and improves envelope performance by combiningcontemporary fabrication technologies with traditional woodworking techniques. Design tools shouldallow for compelling formal opportunities and facilitate fabrication and construction. The systemmanifests as ...

Architecture, Structures and Construction

Highly optimised processing workflows characterise today's wood industry. The gained efficiency is mainly directed towards making standardised linear materials that fulfil the market's expectation of a continuous flow of identical products with certain constant specifications. The research presented here seeks to question these limitations and provide another approach to the use of wood in construction. The study involves complex geometry handling, architectural design, and material and structural considerations. Trees absorb CO 2 during growth, and as a construction material, wood can function as CO 2 storage, thereby reducing the levels in the atmosphere during the lifetime of the building-and even longer if the building components can be reused. We have seen a significant rise in wood construction over the past few years. This is partly due to growing climate awareness and the increased availability of engineered wood products (EWP). EWPs are reliant on uniform tree production. With growing interest in using wood for construction, an increase in plantation forests is predicted, leading to a lack of biodiversity in the affected areas. The consideration for the general climate expressed through the increased use of wood as a building material may thus appear to be in contrast to the efforts to improve biodiversity. This research seeks to provide an alternative route where non-uniform wood, usually used as firewood, can be used as a construction material. The project demonstrates possibilities that emerge from engaging with the wood as a specific occurrence of a biological entity rather than a standardised material. While historical precedents inspire the research, the project has been developed using digital tools, such as laser scanning, algorithmic design and robotic fabrication. We have developed a unique design-to-production workflow that uses curved natural wood in its original form to enable curved architectural designs. The workflow thereby links the inherent properties of the wood to a distinct mode of expression. The wood is retrieved from a sawmill that collects discarded tree trunks from local forests. The sawlogs are registered with a 3D scanner, and a customised parametric method is used to handle the geometric information and establish a database of the irregular saw logs. A custom-made algorithmic design tool identifies where the sawlogs fit best in a predefined construction design based on the database. Machining data is directly extracted for the subsequent robotic processing. The irregular shape of the material suggests a discrete analysis of the structural properties of each component. A series of destructive physical tests are carried out to indicate the capacity of the structural system and the joint solution. To demonstrate the viability of the workflow, study challenges in controlling tolerances and humidity, and develop an assembly strategy, we have produced a construction prototype of 15 members in the size of 3 m in width and 4 m in height.

The research undertaken in the EPFL's Timber Construction Laboratory aims both to question in depth the relationship between engineering sciences and architectural conception and to expose new facets of this relationship. The IBOIS is firmly integrated in the Civil Engineering Institute, as well as being involved in architecture through the setting up of a workshop for architecture masters students. Timber construction has a great future in the face of global sustainable development challenges. The advantages are well-known as far as low energy consumption for the production of building components (planks, boards, beams, etc.) is concerned. Savings in time and energy consumption are also noticeable in timber structure assembly and dismantling processes. But the challenges of sustainable development also concern the issue of architectural form. How can one introduce a process of formal and technological innovation in a perspective of sustainability?

Lecture Notes in Civil Engineering, 2019

Within the broad context of teaching and research, the results of a project involving a pavilion based on developable wooden surfaces, parametric design, and digital fabrication are presented through the collaboration of Ibero-American universities. The project addresses applications of wood to architecture that involves the CNC cutting of plates, thanks to the properties of developable surfaces. The in-depth knowledge of the geometrical properties of these surfaces opens up a wide range of morphological exploration and new constructive solutions. The proposed system provides a creative response to the criteria of limited material resources (a thin sheet of material) and low production and assembly costs as an analogy with natural construction. This high-tech and low-cost system, together with the Bio-mimetic design, offers an ecocompatible proposal to the three processes under study: design, manufacture, and assembly.

Design Transactions, 2020

I owe an enormous debt of gratitude to a large number of people that have contributed-directly and indirectly, knowingly and unknowingly-to this thesis. There is no chance that I can list them all here, so I must only briefly summarize. Beginning with Professor Manuel Baez and Dr. Thomas Mical at Carleton University for pushing me beyond my intellectual boundaries and encouraging me to go further. To Eric Schlange and Aldis Sipolins for all the adventures and escapades during those formative years. To my friends at the Bartlett-particularly my friends in Unit 23 without whom that time would have not been as fun. To my tutors there-Professor Bob Sheil, Emmanuel Vercruysse, and Kate Davies-for revealing an entirely new path in my architectural wanderings. To my colleagues in teaching-Carlos Jimenez, Thomas Pearce, Mara Kanthanak, and Sarah Firth-for the fun, energy, and endless curiosity. To Matthew Shaw and William Trossell at ScanLAB Projects for taking me in and letting me take part in so many adventures in so many strange places. To my colleagues at ScanLAB

CAADRIA proceedings

The bent timber laths of the Sound Bites gridshell create two types of performance space over an area of almost 100 m 2. Such post-formed gridshells are a well-established design solution for creating curved forms from linear elements. Extending principles developed since the 1970s, contemporary digital tools have been utilised to drive a renewed interest in them, primarily through so-called formfinding techniques which connect digital and material models through a simulation of shape under bending loads (Nettlebladt, 2013) and the definition of efficient structural geometry acting under compression loads only (Hernandez et. al., 2012). This paper describes the workflow conceived and implemented for the Sound Bites structure. A central challenge of the research was for such a workflow to allow for the principles of gridshell design to be engaged in parallel to other tight constraints and design drivers. As such it needed to facilitate close collaboration between architectural, engineering and fabrication experts. This workflow was tested in the design and realisation of the full-scale structure within a six-week period. The gridshell design was developed through the manipulation of the shape of two edge profiles and the shell form spanning between these. Architectural and fabrication constraints were met and the workflow allowed for a sufficient level of structural analysis to be fed back to inform the design.