Computational Design and Co-Robotic Fabrication for Material Reuse in Architecture

TL;DR

This paper introduces a computational and robotic framework for designing and constructing architectural structures using reclaimed timber, addressing challenges of material heterogeneity and promoting sustainable, circular construction practices.

Contribution

It presents an integrated data-driven design and co-robotic fabrication approach enabling the use of heterogeneous reclaimed timber in architecture.

Findings

Validated through the Timbrelyn installation demonstrating timber reuse in architecture.

Developed workflows for adaptive design and fabrication with reclaimed materials.

Showcased how feedback-driven methods can handle inventory constraints.

Abstract

Climate change and resource depletion demand a shift from the dominant linear "take-make-use-dispose" paradigm of construction toward circular, low-waste practices. Material reuse offers a promising pathway by reducing raw material extraction, mitigating waste, and extending the service lifespan of carbon-sequestering materials such as timber. Realizing this potential, however, requires addressing technical and logistical challenges across both design and construction for accommodating heterogeneous, reclaimed material inventories. This paper presents an integrated framework that couples data-driven computational design with feedback-driven adaptive human-robot collaborative (co-robotic) fabrication and assembly to enable the realization of nonstandard structures made from reclaimed timber of varying length and geometries, supplemented with new off-the-shelf timber when necessary. The framework is validated through Timbrelyn, a built case-study installation that demonstrates how timber reuse can inform and enhance architectural expression. This work contributes to the development of integrated design-to-fabrication workflows that advance adaptive, feedback-driven methods to handle inventory constraints and reclaimed material uncertainties, facilitating material reuse in the design and construction of new buildings and structures.