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.
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.
Self-Forming Hygrosensitive Tectonics: Developing Doubly Curved Adaptive Morphologies from Uniplanar Bilaminate Construction
Description
This research develops a system of hygroscopically actuated bilaminated panels to generate self-forming doubly curved structures from flattened, uniplanar constructions. This investigation seeks to expand the existing research on the architectural relevance of hygroscopic behavior in wood materials by responding to the challenges of meso-scale structural applications. While exposure to moisture is typically restricted in traditional wood construction, emerging research has attempted to celebrate wood’s unique hygroscopic properties, leveraging anisotropic variation in hygroscopic expansion to create bilaminated components which bend in response to changes in humidity. This bending behavior, produced by unequal forces within the passive and active layers, allows for the design of materially programmed, environmentally responsive architectural elements.
After developing a humidity-controlled fabrication chamber, a series of experiments were run that explored the effect of materiality, dimensionality, and orientation on hygroscopic behavior. These tests resulted in the decision to design a maple-spruce bilamination system that manipulated the thickness of the spruce passive layer as the key variable in affecting principal curvature. The passive layer thickness required to produce a variety of digitally modeled geometries was derived from the creation of a computational model based on the Timoshenko bending formula. A catalogue of joinery and surface division procedures was established in an attempt to achieve monoclastic, synclastic, and anticlastic physical geometries. Responding to the limitations of these experiments (including the dimensional constraints of available lumber materials), a system of narrow paneled elements whose passive layers fell within a limited set of thicknesses was developed. By flipping the orientation of the active layer within a single, flat surface construction, bidirectional curvature was achieved. This produced a self-forming standing structure whose final morphology exists along an adaptive continuum and that responds directly to changes in humidity conditions within its exhibition space.
Author and Image Credit
Yin-Yu Fong, Kirk Gordon, Nicholas Grimes, Mengzhe Ye
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