COMPUTATIONAL DESIGN WORKSHOP

This workshop explored computational design and fabrication methods for timber assembly, based on the notion of discreteness. This research attempts to combine Programmable Matter and Digital Material thinking with Prefabrication and Modularity in Architecture. Hod Lipson and Neil Gerschenfeld, among others, have developed a new understanding of physical parts being programmable with specific properties and behaviours. This allows to construct larger- scale features from versatile, pixel-like elements, which can either assemble themselves or be assembled by other, pixel-like robots. While modularity is fundamental to programmable matter, it has also made a come-back in architecture. Under pressure of an emerging global housing crisis but also the development of new engineered timber materials such as LVL (Laminated Veneer Lumber) and Cross Laminated Timber (CLT), there is a renewed interest in prefabrication as a way to automate construction. The workshop advanced an argument that architectural thinking about Prefabrication and Modularity could benefit from Programmable Matter, redefining architectural parts as versatile, discrete building blocks with programmable properties, that can be assembled into functional buildings. This workshop specifically looked into a discrete design and production method for timber sheet materials. Rather than an overarching

super-whole, we started with a set of serialised, generic building elements. These elements are based on a short, modular production chain: they can be CNC-milled out of one sheet of timber, and assembled using repeating parts. Discrete Timber assemblies become specifically relevant in the context of housing, where they allow for efficiency but also complexity and versatility.

We were introduced to the basic concepts of discrete design methods, in the context of digital design research. Subsequently we designed a series of assemblies of timber building elements, using Rhino, Grasshopper and small physical models - speculating on both small and large- scale assemblies. In the second phase of the workshop we collectively pre-fabricated and CNC timber building elements, while testing connection principles. In the last phase, we built a large-scale installation with our prefabricated elements.