Advancing Wood Architecture: A Computational Approach

In light of environmental challenges architecture is facing, wood is no longer regarded as outmoded, nostalgic, and rooted in the past, but increasingly recognized as one of the most promising building materials for the future. Recent years have seen unprecedented innovation of new technologies for advancing wood architecture.

Advancing Wood Architecture offers a comprehensive overview of the new architectural possibilities that are enabled by cutting-edge computational technologies in wood construction. It provides both an overarching architectural understanding and in-depth technological information through built projects and the works of four leading design research groups in Europe. The projects presented include large scale, permanent buildings such as the ETH Arch-Tec Lab Building in Zurich, the Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall near Stuttgart and the Boiler House in Hooke Park, UK, as well as, built research prototypes investigating additive robotic fabrication, folded plate structures and meteorosensitive building skins.

Illustrated in full colour, the book showcases the latest technological developments in design computation, simulation and digital fabrication together with an architectural, engineering and manufacturing perspective, offering an outlook towards novel spatial and constructional opportunities of a material with unrivalled ecological virtues.

Achim Menges is a registered architect and professor at the University of Stuttgart, Germany, where he is the founding director of the Institute for Computational Design. Currently he is also Visiting Professor in Architecture at Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design, USA.

Tobias Schwinn is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Institute for Computational Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. In his research he is focusing on the integration of robotic fabrication and computational design processes.

Oliver David Krieg is a research associate and doctoral candidate at the Institute for Computational Design at the University of Stuttgart, Germany. His research aims to investigate the architectural potentials of robotic fabrication in wood construction.