Abstract
The research presented in this paper pursues the development and construction of a robotically fabricated, lightweight timber plate system through a biologically informed, integrative computational design method. In the first part of the paper, the authors give an overview of their approach starting with the description of the biological role model and its technical abstraction, moving on to discuss the computational modelling approach that integrates relevant aspects of biomimetics, robotic fabrication and structural design. As part of the validation of the research, a full-scale, fully enclosed, insulated and waterproof building prototype has been developed and realized: The first building featuring a robotically fabricated primary structure made of beech plywood. Subsequently, the methods and results of a geodetic evaluation of the fabrication process are presented. Finally, as the close collaboration between architects, structural and geodetic engineers, and timber fabricators is integral to the process, the architectural and structural potentials of such integrative design processes are discussed.
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Acknowledgements
The work presented in this paper is part of a collaborative research project between the University of Stuttgart and Müllerblaustein Holzbau GmbH. The authors would like to thank their project partners Landesgartenschau Schwäbisch Gmünd 2014 GmbH, Forst BW and KUKA Roboter GmbH. The research project was partly funded by the European Union EFRE fund and the state of Baden-Württemberg through the Cluster Forst und Holz Initiative.
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Krieg, O.D. et al. (2015). Biomimetic Lightweight Timber Plate Shells: Computational Integration of Robotic Fabrication, Architectural Geometry and Structural Design. In: Block, P., Knippers, J., Mitra, N., Wang, W. (eds) Advances in Architectural Geometry 2014. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11418-7_8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11418-7_8
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