Master's Thesis Award Winners 2022

Embraced Wood: Building with Unprocessed Reclaimed Timber         

Pelin Asa, Christian Steixner, and Christelle El Feghali
Supervisor:  Prof. Dipl. AA (Hons.) Achim Menges
Advisors: Hans-Jakob Wagner, and Yasaman Tahouni

With the growing demand for timber as a building material, Embraced Wood expands the availability of wood in construction by establishing a computational and robotic workflow to create beams from unprocessed reclaimed timber. In this workflow, reclaimed timber pieces of unknown quality are sourced from demolished buildings. Each sourced piece goes through non-destructive regrading and is digitally inventoried. A digital workflow optimally places the reclaimed pieces based on respective strength grade, geometry and the design scenario. Once a suitable combination is generated, the beam is materialized. Clay is used in the composite beam to overcome surface irregularities, add friction, provide fire proofing, offer toxic substance encapsulation, and protect against hazardous nails left in-place. Natural jute fiber wraps the lamella together using a custom wrapping end-effector using design specific reinforcing patterns. 1:1 prototypes and structural testing conducted on samples prove design specific span and loading performance. Combining digital and robotic fabrication tools with an outlook for connection to other building assemblies and industrial scale automation, this research presents solutions for simplifying and expanding the reuse practices while offering design freedom. Embraced Wood offers a lower energy carbon-conscious design and fabrication process that is competitive to that of other timber systems and is suitable for building extensions as well as new multi-story timber construction. Considering reuse from the onset of design, the beam can be unwrapped to retrieve all materials separately for continuous use.

 

 

 

Photos: Julia Mederus. IntCDC Master’s Thesis Award winners Pelin Asa, Christelle El Feghali and Christian Steixner (online from USA)