Bundesgartenschau, Heilbronn, 2019
The BUGA Wood Pavilion celebrates a new approach to digital timber construction. Its segmented wood shell is based on biological principles found in the plate skeleton of sea urchins, which have been studied by the Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and the Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) at the University of Stuttgart for almost a decade. As part of the project, a robotic manufacturing platform was developed for the automated assembly and milling of the pavilion’s 376 bespoke hollow wood segments. This fabrication process ensures that all segments fit together with sub-millimeter precision like a big, three-dimensional puzzle. The stunning wooden roof spans 30 meters over one of BUGA’s main event and concert venues, using a minimum amount of material while also generating a unique architectural space.
You can find more information on the IntCDC website, as well as ICD und ITKE.
There is a real need, urgency but also opportunity to rethink design and construction in a comprehensive manner, as we can simply not afford to continue building in the way we do now. The lack of digitisation in construction, and the related lack of productivity, together with the significant lack of sustainability can be summarized as a serious innovation shortcoming in the building sector. However, advancing building construction is a complex task and requires profound new methods, as architecture and construction differs substantially from other industries, due to the site-, culture- and context specificity and one-off character of buildings.
Integrative Research Approach: Co-Design of Methods, Processes, Systems, Cross-Sectoral Topics, Demonstrators
A major obstacle for innovation in architecture and the building sector is the compartementalised nature of research on digital technologies, which separately addresses either the area of design and engineering methods, or fabrication and construction processes, or material and building systems. In order to explore the full potential of computation for ground-breaking advancement, it is vital to adopt an integrative research approach that innovates across all these areas simultaneously. The goal is to develop an overarching methodology of “co-design” of methods, processes and systems, cross-sectoral socio-cultural studies and building demonstrators.
The research approach includes the development of truly integrative computational design and engineering methods, robotic cyber-physical fabrication and construction processes, genuinely digital, next-generation material and building systems and the cross-sectoral critical reflection of integrative and sustainable innovation. The demonstrators enable a rapid turn from visionary research to architectural application.
digitize wood is based at the Cluster of Excellence IntCDC at the University of Stuttgart and is funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Food, Rural Areas and Consumer Protection (MLR) as part of the BW Timber Construction Initiative.
