(WASTE) WOOD’S ARCHITECTURAL POTENTIAL - Waste Wood Canopy 1:1 demonstrator

AIM (what/why):
The aim of WASTE WOOD Canopy is to investigate the potential of utilising the inherent characteristics of waste wood at an architectural scale, by designing, fabricating and assembling a 1:1 inhabitable loadbearing structure.

HOW:
Novel type of connections are developed with only two members being joined at each connection through the application of reciprocal frame principles (RFs), utilising short second-hand timber elements. Using digital tools design iterations and optimisation of structural performance, aesthetics and buildability of global structure and connections are carried out in parallel.
Structural performance is considered when investigating how the overall form influences structural efficiency as well as how we design efficient connections that have a symbiotic relationship with (waste) wood’s characteristics. Aesthetics is central in all design and evaluation processes and investigates how ‘defects’ can contribute to tectonic expressions. In this process buildability accounts for both fabrication and assembly and has focus on how investing in design time can lead to smarter/simpler building processes.

WHICH EFFECT, FOR WHOM
The project through the spatial outcome presents the potential of reuseing wood and puts forward the pardigm “form follows availability” relationship between a distinctive full-scale structural spatial outcome, and a specific waste wood stock. The effect is to show (waste) wood’s architectural potential to the design and research community as well as society at large. Beyond that it is also to help formulate relevant research questions that with further research will enable greater use of (waste) wood in building sustainable futures.