Arboreal Formations is a research project that investigates how specific properties of wood may be a driver for curving pieces of timer. The thesis documents an approach for generating design solutions that capitalise on the investigation and understanding of wood’s inherent properties. The work aims to create a generative process for a holistic building system implementing a methodology that prioritises materiality to enhance the relationship between material, structure and geometry. The process investigates the calibration of physical experiments and digital simulations to define a component which may aggregate to form a system that is structurally coherent, fabrication efficient and expresses spatially dynamic morphologies. The characteristics of the component are integral to the material system and using an associative geometry is revealed in the design of a twenty storey timber residential block in New York City. A novel fabrication technique and understanding of materiality are combined through the research to conceive a timber component that can be programmed to create a range of curvatures and be structural depending upon its thickness. The innovation presents an opportunity for new architectural spaces and forms to be created in wood.
Bartek Arendt, Chris Hill and Eleni Meladaki
