Selected Project
Generative Crossed Timber System
Description
The project “Generative Crossed Timber System” creates an open-ended timber system that can form different architectural elements by applying the notion of generative design, the materiality of wood, and digital fabrication. This project was named the best in student design in Fast Company’s 2022 Innovation by Design Awards.
Project Development
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
© C. MacDonnell, Z. Shen, Y. Zhou, 2021.
A cross-referencing method—which includes geometry study, material study, fabrication tests, and structural analysis—was developed by this research collective to serve as the driving force of this project. The feedback among each approach provides guidelines for future research and practice. The geometry study shaped the form-searching process and provided theoretical support for the unit design. It provided greater understanding of the physical properties of different geometries and connection methods. The material study focused on material dimension, grain orientation, stiffness, and elastic properties.
Three key elements of the final design came from the fabrication test: 1) the milling speed of the current robot setup limits the scale of final structure, 2) the dimension limitation and maximum load of the robot affects the form and size of the unit, and 3) the accuracy of the robotic fabrication and the bending behavior of wood material during the change of air humidity required more tolerance to be considered during the unit design process. The final design was also guided by the feedback of the structural analysis, which centered around the structural performance.
The final form consists of 81 pieces of pine lumber that are only connected by notches of different dimensions. The single size of each piece is 1”x 7” x 28”. The column-like structure can be re-formed to other architectural elements by rearranging the units and can be extended to other scales by aggregating through the opened notches.
Author and Image Credit
Chris MacDonnell, Ziwei Shen, Yuwen Zhou.
Instructor
Ehsan Baharlou
Courses, News
Introduction to Computational Design and Construction
“The manifest form—that which appears—is the result of a computational interaction between internal rules and external (morphogenetic) pressures that, themselves, originate in other adjacent forms (ecology). The (pre-concrete) internal rules comprise, in their activity, an embedded form, what is today clearly understood and described by the term algorithm.”
— Who is afraid of formalism?, Sanford Kwinter.
Description
The elective course “Introduction to Computational Design and Construction” was complementary to the advanced research studio “Wood Proto-architecture I”, offered the same year. Advances in computational design and fabrication techniques provide new possibilities for designers to explore the manifestation and materialization of form. This course introduced students to these methods in design and construction. These approaches allow architects to consider material and fabrication characteristics in the early stages of the design process.
This course provided students with basic knowledge of developing computational design techniques in architecture that can be seamlessly integrated into design and fabrication processes. This introduction enhanced students’ knowledge in computational design by developing associative and algorithmic design strategies. Students investigated relatively simple mathematical and physical principles to generate complex geometries in the context of proto-architecture. This generative approach provided an algorithmic understanding of developing physical materialization.
Concurrently, the course focused on digital fabrication processes that integrate computational manufacturing techniques’ limitations and possibilities into design processes. Students learned robotic fabrication and advanced robotic control for digital fabrication. Accordingly, students gained hands-on experience working with the industrial-scale robot, KUKA KR AGILUS. Thus, students were introduced to a fabrication-driven method that provides a new approach in the design of complex geometric forms.
Image Credit
J. Höll and G. Kazlachev, ICD, University of Stuttgart, 2013/14.
