The construction industry produces about 40% of the world's atmospheric carbon, as a consequence of the high heats needed to manufacture concrete and steel. Mass timber is seen as a sustainable solution to reducing the carbon footprint associated with building construction. Timber logging, however, has its own negative impacts on the environment. Trees sequester atmospheric... Continue Reading →

A nomadic system for continuous use and disassembly This design team successfully created a catalog of structures based on the same modular, reciprocal framing system. In the application of music festivals, the team designed a barrier, footbridge, small canopy and stage shell. Each of these installations have components that are adjustable, such as the cladding... Continue Reading →

The projects introduced in this post are from ICD and ITKE, Both institutes are in the university of Stuttgart in Germany. ICD’s Research and teaching are in the field of computational design and computer-aided manufacturing in architecture. Research and teaching at the ITKE focus on the integration of structural design and architecture. [Some of the... Continue Reading →

The world population has just surpassed the 8 billion mark and is continuing to grow exponentially. Within the next 2 decades it is predicted that around 70% of the world population will live in an urban center. Because of this rapid urban expansion, the construction industry will need to be able build upward, not outward,... Continue Reading →

For out final review we presented our model with connection optimizations made for simplified fabrication as we constructed a full scale model. These optimizations came from understanding the relationship of how the diagonal member notches into the horizontal member which was often causing compound angled planes on the bottom of the notch. We found this... Continue Reading →

From our initial development of ideas to the first and second design stages, material availability, CNC cut abilities lead our group to simplify out panel design to 12 members total. Physically building our design led us to learn about the complications of cut files and orientations of our model. We found that flipping out panel... Continue Reading →

This project focused on re-thinking wood in traditional construction. Traditional timber architecture in East Asia has been built with the column, beam, and strut systems with limited lengths of wood. The project began with the challenge; of how to cover a building with a wide-span structure while achieving a beauty that comes from the use... Continue Reading →

It is 2050, global emissions in the construction industry have decreased by 30%. Buildings are almost entirely carbon neutral with a substantial percentage sequestering emissions resulting in net positive offsets. The construction industry is seeing a boon in high paying, safe jobs. Populations throughout the world have access to affordable, equitable and healthy housing. These... Continue Reading →

The concept of the circular economy may be defined as a model of production and consumption which involves the sharing, leasing, reusing, repairing, refurbishing and recycling existing materials and products as long as possible.  The AEC industry typically follows a linear model of extraction, fabrication, use, and disposal.  This not only leads to the consumption of... Continue Reading →