Digital wood craft

In 1995, Robin Evans points out in his book The Projective Cast how the development of techniques changed architecture and the space inhabited in times of Gothic and early Renaissance. We see a parallel phenomenon today, where the interplay of technology and tool gives shape to new design (Kolarevic 2005). Yet in opposition to the interwoven fields of design and craft of the late Gothic, todayis building sector is enormously diversified, and a growing complexity in the building process and number of used materials can be observed. This gives an opposite point of departure into a more integrated field of design and innovation in architectural design and building industry

Translating material and design space:Strategies to design with curved creased surfaces

This paper shares findings from the project DevA (Developable surfaces in Architecture), a research by design based project developed a collaboration between academic and industry partners. The project aims to investigate the use of curved sheet material in architecture using hybridised 3D modelling and pattern cutting techniques. The project investigates how digital design and fabrication technologies enable the development of new structural concepts through the new means of material specification and detailing at unprecedented levels of precision. The paper presents speculative research project as well as the demonstrator Reef Pattern

Robotically Fabricated Ice Formwork: An Exploration on Casting Morphologically Programmed Complex Concrete Elements with Robotically Milled Ice Formworks

This document focuses on the exploration of casting complex concrete architectural elements with ice formwork. Replacing conventional concrete formwork with ice formwork,allows to produce architectural elements with complex geometries in a highly controlled off-site production process,with almost complete use of the mold material. Usingdigitallydrivenfabricationtoolssuchasaroboticarmmilling,the goal is to achieve 3d shapes made from one or more ice molds, able to be stacked, assembled and merged together in order to define architectural partitions. One of the main instigators of this research is the sustainability, showcased both through the usage of ice as a mold material that is 100% reusable, and the unique ability of the described process to produce topology optimized shapes in concrete, which reduces the use of this high carbon footprint material to to bare minimum. Ice formwork allows furthermore,to create bespoke shapes for every single element in an efficient way. This opens new avenues for architectural design and construction. This project uses a design based research methodology, where each physical iteration is carefully evaluated against the digital model, embracing morphological material programming

Towards Assembly Information Modeling (AIM)

Nowadays digital tools support architects, engineers and constructors in many specific tasks in the construction industry. While these tools are covering almost all aspects of design and manufacturing, the planning and design for the assembly of buildings remain an unexplored area. This research aims to lay the foundations of a new framework for the design for assembly in architectural applications entitled Assembly Information Modeling. In practice, it is a central digital model containing the structure architectural design, construction details, three dimensional representations, assembly sequences, issue management and others. This framework forms the base for a multitude of novel applications for assembly design, planning and execution, such as assembly simulation and strategies communication, problem detections in the early design phases and interdisciplinary coordination. This paper describes the specifications of the digital assembly model and illustrate two use cases: collaborative assembly design using AEC cloud-based platforms and Augmented Assembly using Augmented reality devices