Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää, Martin Lukasczyk, Mafoombey, elevation detail.

Photo: Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää with Martin Lukasczyk

Sectioning
Sectioning 010/011

Orthographic projections—that is, plans and This building technique was adopted in the
sections—are one of the most valuable predigital era by architects such as Le Corbusier.
representational tools architects have at their The roof of the chapel at Ronchamp, for example—
disposal. They are an indispensable communication likened to an airplane wing by the architect—is
and design device. They have also contributed to designed and built as a series of structural concrete
a prominent digital fabrication method. With ribs, tied together laterally by crossbeams. A paper
computer modeling, deriving sections is no longer model of the roof clearly shows the intentions for
a necessarily two-dimensional drawing exercise. In the internal construction. The advantages of using
fact, it is no longer an exercise in projection at all this type of hollow construction are clear: it is a
but a process of taking cuts through a formed lightweight structure that provides accurate edge
three-dimensional object. As architects increasingly profiles for a nonuniform shape on which to align
design with complex geometries, using sectioning and support surface material, in this case thin shells
as a method of taking numerous cross sections of concrete. In his book Ronchamp, Le Corbusier
through a form has proven time and again an enumerates the unique constructional makeup in
effective and compelling technique. As in conventional a manner that recalls the makeup of digitally
construction processes, information is translated constructed projects: “Seven strong, flat beams,
from one format to another to communicate 17 cm. thick, all different.”1
with the builder—only in this case the builder Another architect who worked almost exclusively
is a machine. with forms that required nonstandard construction
Rather than construct the surface itself, was Frederick Kiesler. Indeed he has become a poster
sectioning uses a series of profiles, the edges of which child of sorts for protoblob architecture. In the
follow lines of surface geometry. The modeling context of digital fabrication, his relevance has less
software’s sectioning or contouring commands can to do with the shapes of his buildings and more to
almost instantaneously cut parallel sections through do with his efforts to develop a method for building
objects at designated intervals. This effectively his “endless” forms. It is not surprising that Kiesler’s
streamlines the process of making serialized, parallel endeavors in this regard have correlations with digital
sections. Architects have experimented with sectional construction. Although the truly organic form of his
assemblies as a way to produce both surface Endless House was never realized, he did complete
and structure. several projects, most notably Peggy Guggenheim’s
While it is distinctly within the domain of Art of This Century gallery, in 1942. The gallery
digital techniques, sectioning has a long history in bespeaks his desire for a sentient architecture that
the construction industry. It is commonly used would be responsive to its occupants’ mercurial
in airplane and shipbuilding to make the doubly perceptions: the picture frames are suspended from
curving surfaces associated with their respective the walls so as to interact with various viewers
built forms. Objects such as airplane bodies and against a curved backdrop. Study sketches of the
boat hulls are first defined sectionally as a series of curved wall and ceiling reveal sectional ribs that
structural ribs, then clad with a surface material. are aestheticized to resemble an airplane or other
Lofting—the method that determines the shape of machined framework. The curvature of the wall is
the cladding or surface panels by building between consistent along its length, so, unlike the ribs of Le
curved cross-sectional profiles—is analogous to Corbusier’s chapel at Ronchamp, these are repetitive.
lofting in digital software. Lofted surfaces can be What is similar about these projects is their
unrolled into flat pieces or else geometrically employment of sectioning for constructional and
redescribed in section as curves along the surface. geometric purposes in the making of curved forms.
clockwise from top left:
Example of cutting sections using
contour command in Rhinoceros.
Photo: L. Iwamoto
Le Corbusier, Chapelle Notre Dame
du Haut de Ronchamp, 1950. Scaled
model showing ribbed roof structure.
© FLC/ARS, 2008. Courtesy Fondation
Le Corbusier
Greg Lynn, Artists Space installation,
Artists Space, New York, 1995. Final
installation showing lights behind Mylar
panels. Photo: Greg Lynn/Form
Artists Space installation. Rendering of
sectional ribs. Photo: Greg Lynn/Form

Rather than expose the constructional system, of digital fabrication. Lynn designed the installation
however, the sectioning in both cases is a substrate to push his process toward full-scale construction.
for the application of a surface material and the Whereas he derived the design itself from a dynamic
achievement of a smooth finished form. process of nodal interaction, he relied on simple
Greg Lynn was one of the first to experiment with planar material for its construction. Initially the form
digitally generated sectional construction as part of was curvilinear, made of parallel sectioned ribs cut
a highly influential design methodology. In his 1999 from a plastic sheet using two-dimensional computer
book Animate Form, Lynn formulates an architectural plots as full-scale cutting templates. The ribs were
approach out of the emergence of dynamic forces, faced with triangulated Mylar panels to make a
flows, and organizations. By harnessing the computer’s continuous volume. Both the translation of the
potential as a generative medium for design, he asserts, original volume into a sectioned grid and the
there are “distinct formal and visual consequences of approximation of the originally smooth shell as a
the use of computer animation. For instance, the most tessellated surface resulted from the mandates of
obvious aesthetic consequence is the shift from volumes full-scale construction. Yet rather than produce
defined by Cartesian coordinates to topological a partial representation of what should have been a
surfaces defined by U and V vector coordinates.”2 This curvilinear form, the constructional imperatives
revelation ushered in a whole new mode of formally created an articulated system for display.
and organizationally fluid, digitally driven design. William Massie, another pioneer in digital
Animate Form catalogs the projects Lynn uses construction, designed a series of installations based
as examples of animate architecture. Four of these on sectioning. Playa Urbana/Urban Beach, Massie’s
projects were featured, with evocatively glowing winning design for MoMA/P.S.1’s Young Architects
stereolithography models, in a solo exhibition at Program courtyard installation in 2002, revisits the
Artists Space, in New York, in 1995. Yet it was the very spanning of surface material and offers a new version
construction of the exhibition that is in the domain of this constructional system. It has translated the
Sectioning 012/013

clockwise from top left:

William Massie, Playa Urbana/Urban Beach,
MoMA/P.S.1, Queens, New York, 2002.
Photo: William Massie
Playa Urbana/Urban Beach. Detail of
steel rib. Photo: William Massie
SHoP Architects, Dunescape, 2001. Plot
files of cross sections used for construction
layout. Photo: SHoP Architects
Dunescape. Installation.
Photo: SHoP Architects

system into laser-cut steel fins threaded with exposed taken advantage of sectioning—both to merge and
PVC tubing, creating the effect of diaphanous to perceptually elevate the relationship of form with
surfaces of flowing plastic hair that create shade and material tectonic.
accommodate program. The sensuous lines are a A good example of this merging and perceptual
constructive solution that cumulatively define the elevation is Dunescape, the project that won MoMA/
larger surfaces and representationally echo the digital P.S.1’s Young Architects Program the year before
method that made them. That is, the lines define Massie’s Playa Urbana/Urban Beach. Designed
the physical surface in the same way that embedded and built by by SHoP Architects, Dunescape is an
surface curves, or isoparms, make up a digitally ruled, architecturalized landscape built completely as
or lofted, one. a series of parallel, stacked dimensional lumber.
Massie’s method coordinates well with While manual labor was required to cut, assemble,
conventional building materials. Standard materials and fasten the pieces in the actual construction, the
typically come as sheets, so that three-dimensional methodology was completely digitally driven. First,
buildings are made from two-dimensional materials. the digital model was sectioned at intervals that
In the case of sectioning, the constructional were established by the given material thickness. The
techniques that have emerged include sectional resulting section drawings were then plotted at full
ribbing (as in the projects already described), scale and used as templates on which to lay out and
lamination or parallel stacking, and waffle-grid position each wood piece. Not insignificantly, SHoP
construction. In the case of parallel stacking, the used this very same technique to make a scaled model
frequency of the sections required to approximate in the digital file submitted for the competition
the increasingly varied surface geometries increases, presentation—a convincing testament to this particular
sometimes resulting in a visual intensification of technique’s fluidity, scalability, and credibility.
material. By using edge profiles to describe surface The substantial rhetoric that has surrounded
through implied visual continuities, architects have digital fabrication toward the streamlining of
clockwise from top left:
SHoP Architects, Dunescape, 2001.
Final installation at MoMA/P.S.1., Queens,
New York. Photo: SHoP Architects
Preston Scott Cohen, House on a
Terminal Line, 1997. Laser-cut model.
Photo: courtesy Scott Cohen/Cameron Wu
Jakob + MacFarlane, Loewy Bookshop,
Paris, 2001. Photo: courtesy Jakob +
MacFarlane
Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura,
Serpentine Pavilion Gallery, London,
2005. Grid-shell lamella structure.
Photo: Pietro Russo

construction practice is certainly warranted. coupling these machines with the digital-design
Computerized two-and-a-half- and three-axis cutting software that fostered nonstandard form making and
tools—such as laser cutters, CNC routers, water-jet came equipped with commands to redescribe those
and plasma cutters—all work from the same precision forms through serial sections, designers
polylines to cut two-dimensional materials. While were soon able to envision how sectioning, as
the scale and thickness and size of material may a representational method, could become a
change, the files used to communicate with the building technique.
various pieces of equipment work off the same set Preston Scott Cohen’s House on a Terminal Line
of profiles. Early adopters made a conceptual leap (1998), for example, conceptually unites ground
to bridge digital and physical model making with and house by employing a technique of waffle
full-scale construction. The leap has yielded a wealth construction for both. Conceived as an inflected
of compelling and sophisticated architectural landscape, the project was made by taking the
explorations that have advanced forms of three- perpendicular intersection of two sets of parallel
dimensional representation and building. sections through the whole digital model. The planes
Laser cutters in particular have facilitated the meet at corresponding notches, resulting in a gridded,
conceptual and practical move from making models wafflelike framework. Waffle construction is by no
to executing full-scale construction. Most laser cutters means new: such common items as old-fashioned
are small; most typically work with model-making metal ice trays and fluorescent-light baffles have used
materials such as chipboard, acrylic, and cardboard; intersecting grids for years. Though not ultimately
and most are easy to use with familiar software such built, this project nevertheless provides insight into
as AutoCAD and Adobe Illustrator. Initially laser how the technique could be used for construction as
cutters were employed by architects for precision well. In 2001, the Paris-based firm Jakob + MacFarlane
model making, as for engraved building facades, used waffle construction as the foundation for the
structural members, and building details. Later design and construction of the Loewy Bookshop.
Sectioning 014/015

The technique is well suited to the programs of in both directions are discontinuous, resulting in an
shelving and storage and to using readily available atypical, less hierarchical structural performance.
sheet materials. Other such projects by other firms At a much larger scale, Herzog & de Meuron’s
have followed, making waffle construction somewhat Bird’s Nest expands the vocabulary of sectioning,
ubiquitous in the lexicon of digital fabrication, drawing out its potential for informality and
yet it retains its power as a supple technique because irregularity. Unlike typical sectioning or waffle
of its inherent ability to be adapted and modulated construction, which relies on parallel planes of
for a multiplicity of forms. Likewise, as a material, the structure of Bird’s Nest is defined by
constructional system, it can accommodate revolving diagonal sections. Diagonal sectioning
projects of multiple scales and work with a range simply involves a rotation of the cutting plane
of building materials. nonorthogonally to either the longitudinal or
A recent project that notably refined the grid transverse building geometry. In this case, the
shell was the Serpentine Gallery Pavilion 2005, by sections are taken tangentially to the oblong center
Álvaro Siza and Eduardo Souto de Moura, with ring of the nestlike form, creating an overlapping
structural engineering by Cecil Balmond. The waffle pattern that becomes the primary truss structure.
grid is revisioned as a nonstandard lamella truss. The Additional lines are similarly geometrically derived
large single-span, low-vaulted enclosure was made from sections through the overall form and become
by connecting small interdependent pieces with a secondary structure and circulation. The building
mortise-and-tenon connection in an overlapping scale demands that each member is not a single
skewed grid pattern. Each of the 427 timber pieces material but built up into large box beams whose
had a unique profile, mapped from thirty-six control construction relies on digital data to define the
points that were derived using a computer script. geometries and which are manually assembled
These rib geometries were sent digitally to the timber by a large labor force.
fabricators, who cut each piece using a five-axis Diagonal grid construction is also integral to the
CNC mill.3 Like masonry vaults, the drapelike roof execution of the BURST* house by SYSTEMarchitects.
is initially supported by extensive shoring; when the The BURST* house is made using a customizable
form is completed, all the members can lock together kit of parts, whereby “the bulk of the construction
in compression. Unlike more typical waffle process is achieved on the computer, where the
construction, which relies on continuous ribs, this geometry of the house and the individual pieces—
structure is based on an aggregation of mutually structural ribs, walls, floors—are resolved and then
dependent pieces. Each piece can be lifted and placed sent to be precisely cut and numbered, before being
by one or two people, which substantially simplifies delivered to the site. This reduces the assembly
the construction process. In keeping with Siza and process to a more accessible process of simple fitting
Souto de Moura’s initial intent for an Arte Povera together, much like a jigsaw puzzle with pre-labeled
structure, the pavilion is built in a handmade, pieces.”4 The house is composed of shells in which
low-tech manner that is nonetheless enabled by the diagonal waffle and diamond-shaped cladding
the precision of high-tech machinery. form what the architects call a “structural weave.”
Another good example of a modified waffle is Because the pattern of the ribs is at an acute diagonal,
[c]space, the competition-winning pavilion designed the members are not notched together but joined at
and built for the Architectural Association by Alan each intersection with bent metal plates. This system
Dempsey and Alvin Huang. The sectioning takes maintains the structural integrity of the diaphragm
into account the continuously changing curvature while breaking each rib into smaller segments for
of the shell-like form, and, unlike grid shells, the ribs easier handling.
from left:
Herzog & de Meuron, Olympic Stadium,
Beijing, China, 2006–8. Diagonally
sectioned structural diagram.
Photo: courtesy Harini Rajaraman, John
Voekel, Brian Coffey, Georgia Lindsay
Frank Gehry, Easy Edges, 1969–73.
Laminated-cardboard furniture series.
Photo: Nelson Lau

Sectioning as a technique for building has also the great advantages of digital fabrication and its
evolved for smaller projects. In some cases, the ready expanded application, called building information
availability of visual images and digital processes modeling (BIM).
associated with sectioning produces expected results; Buildings are typically meant to correspond
in others, the technique is expanded by a desire to to the drawings that anticipate them. Rarely is it
capitalize on both tectonic and material properties. intended that the final product take a form different
One such project is Mafoombey, a structured space from the planned design. Nevertheless, the route
for experiencing music and a competition-winning from virtual to actual is one of constant calibration.
installation, designed by Helsinki University of Material behavior, gravity, construction sequencing,
Technology students Martti Kalliala and Esa weather, available tools, and numerous other
Ruskeepää with the help of their friend Martin concerns necessarily play a part in determining the
Lukasczyk. One of the most compelling aspects of the realization of built form. Taking such exigencies into
project is its economy. Stacking typically uses more account, one may observe a host of exciting digital-
material to make a volume than it would simply to fabrication projects that have cropped up, using
build the enclosing surfaces. In the case of Mafoombey, material and constructive constraints to alter end
however, the design of the sections negotiates material results. Because the nature of designing in such a
thickness with inhabitation, program, and acoustical manner is improvisational, a good portion of this
performance. The internal geometries include cuts one-to-one-scale digital-fabrication research is
made for electronic equipment and depressions conducted at academic institutions, by students under
for the human body. Like cardboard furniture such the guidance of young practitioners and professors.
as Frank Gehry’s Easy Edges series, these students’ In this context, relationships among the design,
installation is an instance of aesthetically elevating an material, fabrication, and assembly are intentionally
inexpensive material through atypical construction. kept flexible through the final building stage. The
The thinness of the cardboard relative to the overall design-build process fosters experimentation, where
size of the volume enables each plane to take on a fortuitous “accidents” may lead to new insights and
subtly different shape, which creates the visually unintended design consequences.
smooth and voluptuous interior. As Georgia Tech’s Ventulett Distinguished Chairs
Sectioning readily allows for constructing in Architectural Design, Office dA principals Monica
such digitally generated form. However geometrically Ponce de Leon and Nader Tehrani led a series of
complex, the physical corollary can closely studios from 2004 to 2006 that examined the
approximate the digital model through the use productive conflicts between digital design and
of appropriately scaled materials. The alignment material assembly. The studios culminated in
between 3D model and constructed end is one of full-scale installations made by teams of students.
Sectioning 016/017

One of the 2005 projects, (Ply)wood Delaminations, in place through compression and friction and are
takes the technique of straightforward parallel easily removed for demounting and transportation.
sectioning as its starting point. Strands of CNC- Although the students sought geometric alliances
routed plywood cascade down the multistory atrium between the digital profiles and full-scale mock-ups,
at Georgia Tech’s College of Architecture building, the end product was ultimately the result of allowing
splitting off at intermediate floors and at the ground material deformations to shape the form.
floor to make seating. Where projects like Mafoombey In negotiating constructive exigencies, the project
use consecutive stacking to provide a solid structure, illustrates the adoption of now well-established steps
(Ply)wood Delaminations widely spaces the largely for translating sectional cuts into a material system.
vertical ribs to make a porous surface. The Because the sectional cuts are not parallel to one
constructive challenge is to maintain the continuity another, the ribs are first rotated, moved onto a
of a large surface that is composed of short, separate consistent plane, and consecutively labeled. Unlike
pieces. For the most part, the ribs are kept at an even the spacing of the ribs in Mafoombey, the wide spacing
distance by steel rods, threaded through precut holes of the ribs in Digital Weave results in each rib’s being
to regulate the spacing. The pliability of wood and significantly different from the next. The ribs are
the natural tendency of long strips of material to attached with rivets at connections that alternate
deflect are celebrated toward the bottom of the between the inside and outside edges, demanding that
installation, where the members are pinched together each match its neighbor along one side. Therefore,
to create an informal array of elongated eye-shaped each rib was redrawn to have a unique profile that
openings. These add a new dimension to the overall slightly reshaped the overall form. Students worked
structure at a scale between the material part and the in AutoCAD to refine the rib geometries, to introduce
overall form. A Change of State, a project completed the internal football-shaped holes that allowed for
the following year under Tehrani, extends the dialogue the ribs to spread, and to draw all the rivet holes. The
of flexible materials and digital construction. This ribs were then laid on four-by-eight-foot templates
design literally moves from a stacked, striated condition to match the corrugated plastic sheet material and
at one end to a loose organization of pillowing fabricated using a CNC water-jet cutter. The
strips at the other, using the inherent flexibility of subsequent assembly proceeded rapidly as each rib
plastic to achieve the formal effect. came off the water-jet cutter, ready to be riveted
Digital Weave, an installation designed and together in groups of ten for easy transportation and
built in 2004 by my own graduate students at the breakdown. Finally, the ribs that had been slipped
University of California, Berkeley, similarly adapted into the slots in the plywood floor were expanded
a sectional methodology to a pliable material. The using the compression rods and then were bolted
design was begun by making a simple digital model together on-site.
that was sectioned in a radial fashion into vertical ribs. The projects in this chapter demonstrate the
The rib profiles were then refined to correspond to ample diversity of sectioning as a construction
full-scale construction prototypes. Early in the design technique. There is an eloquent simplicity to the
process, mock-ups of collapsible systems were made stacked, layered, and gridded tectonic that opens
to test constructability and structural stability. The the door to wide constructional interpretation.
accordion-like structure was then made by slicing Ultimately, it is the defamiliarization of both method
each rib longitudinally with dashed cuts and pulling and material that allows each project to transcend the
it apart in an alternating rhythm. The final design linear translation from digital to physical sectioning.
uses clear acrylic compression rods to expand the ribs The intermediary calibration is what ensures that the
and give shape to the overall volume. The ribs are held architects have virtually limitless possibilities for design.
 All photos: IwamotoScott

Digital Weave
University of California, Berkeley/Lisa Iwamoto, 2004
Digital Weave was designed for the San Francisco two-by-eighteen-by-eleven-foot-high volume needed
Museum of Modern Art Contemporary Extension to be installed in such a short period of time.
(SFMOMA CX). The project had the constraint of The wrapped volume forms two semi-enclosed
extreme temporality: it was shown for one night only, interior lounge spaces. It is constructed from a series
and it had to be installed and de-installed on-site in a of woven ribs, which are made by riveting together
matter of hours. The design engages in constructional aluminum plates that are sandwiched around an
and material investigations of creating an architecture inexpensive translucent corrugated plastic sign
for such a transitory condition. The project utilizes material. The ribs slot into a puzzle-like plywood
CAD/ CAM techniques as a conceptual and construc- floor. All the pieces are fabricated digitally with a
tional strategy to meet the strict time constraints. computer-controlled water-jet cutter. The precision
Digital Weave was completed in a five-week design- afforded by this technology enables the pieces to fit
build segment of a graduate design studio at the together smoothly without any mechanical fasteners
University of California, Berkeley. It was conceived as other than those used for the ribs. The desire to create
a kit of parts, such that the detail becomes the whole, an atmosphere larger than the allotted installation
and it is designed as a concertina-like structure that space was achieved through projection. The ephemeral
can be compressed to a fraction of the size. This yet intricate nature of the project also manifested a
compressible aspect drove the design, since the thirty- unique atmosphere.
Sectioning: Digital Weave 018/019

1 2

UC Berkeley students with Lisa Iwamoto, Digital Weave, 2004.

1 Rhinoceros model of overall surface enclosure.
2 Section cuts shown in plan.
3 Ribs extracted and translated into AutoCAD. Original rib profiles and
adjusted profiles in red match adjacent rib edge.
4 Rib profiles laid out on four-by-eight-foot templates for water-jet cutting.
5 Final full-scale mock-up.
6 Full-scale mock-up testing acrylic compression struts.
7 Water-jet cutting at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Design and
Engineering shop.

6 7
8

8 Assembly of ribs into expanding accordion-like system.

9 Portion of woven rib surface expanded using acrylic compression struts.
10 Trial setup of Digital Weave in studio at UC Berkeley.
11 Plan of floor divided into sections for transportation.
12 Floor sections laid out on four-by-eight-foot templates for water-jet cutting.
13 Detail of floor edge with slots to insert ribs.
14 Floor assembly.
15 Project assembly.

9 10
11

12

13 14 15
Sectioning: Digital Weave 020/021
 022/023

Photo: Timo Wright

Mafoombey
Martti Kalliala, Esa Ruskeepää,
with Martin Lukasczyk, 2005
Mafoombey was the winning entry in a design contest suggested corrugated cardboard as optimal for its
arranged by the University of Art and Design in low cost and excellent acoustics. Furthermore,
Helsinki in 2005. The competition brief called for the material has a strong aesthetic appeal, which the
a space for listening and experiencing music within designers felt had not been fully exploited at the scale
the set dimensions of two and a half cubic meters. of the project.
The project was executed with 3D software and Mafoombey consists of 360 layers of seven-
scale models. millimeter corrugated cardboard, adding up to 720
The design builds up from a simple architectural half-square sheets. The sheets, 2.5 meters by 1.25
concept: a free-form cavernous space that is cut into a meters, are cut one by one using a computer-
cubic volume of stacked material. The low resolution controlled cutter. The structure sits under its own
of form and the perception of weight achieved dead weight without fixing. The lightweight assembly
through a layered structure were determined to details ensure relatively easy transportation and
be the key issues. Research into various materials quick construction.
 above: Assembly and finished exterior. Photos: Timo Wright
below: Program and equipment void diagram sections.

power lighting lighting lighting

cable
rear
SECT. C
SECT. D

front speaker
speaker
subwoofer rear center
main speaker speaker center
front speaker rear
unit SECT. B
speaker speaker
SECT. A

front speaker main unit

subwoofer
cardboard
columns
FLOOR PLAN +1400mm SECTION A SECTION B

center
speaker
front
rear speaker front front
speaker speaker speaker

lighting main lighting

unit

subwoofer

SECTION C SECTION D FRONT ELEVATION

Sectioning: Mafoombey 024/025

Photo: Jukka Uotila

 above:Detail of surface. Photo: Timo Wright
left: Section templates.
below: Axonometric diagram of interior voids.

space equipment elevation

 026/027

left:View from second-floor mezzanine.

opposite top:Installation.
opposite below left: CNC-milled lap joints.
opposite below right: Diagram of lap joint.
All photos: Phil Jones

(Ply)wood Delaminations
Georgia Institute of Technology/
Monica Ponce de Leon, 2005
(Ply)wood Delaminations is one result of a digital of the school’s central atrium while delaminating
design-build course taught at Georgia Tech by at certain floors to provide structure and to create
Monica Ponce de Leon during her tenure as the program, such as seating. The scheme as a whole
Ventulett Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design delaminates in section, while stitching together in
in 2005. The projects that came out of the course took elevation. The lapped joints provide for a relatively
advantage of one of the school’s unique resources: seamless and strong shear connection. Each piece,
the Advanced Wood Products Laboratory. The lab including the bolt holes and the recessed, lapped face,
features a large collection of CNC equipment, which is confined to a four-by-eight-foot sheet of plywood,
is intended to provide researchers with the means and all are nested together and milled using the
to expand the use of wood products. (Ply)wood laboratory’s CNC router.
Delaminations addresses the extreme vertical space
 Photos above and opposite above: Office dA
Photo opposite below: Phil Jones

A Change of State
Georgia Institute of Technology/Nader Tehrani, 2006
This installation is the result of a one-year research Of the various contingencies informing
process conducted by Nader Tehrani with a core the installation, the structural imperative played
team of students during his time as the Ventulett the most salient role. The idea was to develop a
Distinguished Chair in Architectural Design at technique that could seamlessly navigate among
Georgia Tech. The task of the project was to analyze normative structural typologies through a
and develop a three-dimensional installation whose transformable geometric code. The aim of this
fabrication method was limited to a two-dimensional geometric code was to accommodate difference
material. The underlying mission, therefore, was to within a continuous logic. The logic of the geometric
radicalize the potentials of sheet material by provoking unit, then, was based on the introduction and
it to take on structural, spatial, programmatic, and elimination of vertices—in combination with surface
phenomenal dimensions while adopting techniques rotation—to create transformations in the structure.
that bring this variety of agendas into organic In this way, a strategy of creating phase changes was
alignment. From the perspective of technique, the developed, imitating the way H2O can undergo
most important aspect of this project was the transitions from water to ice, steam, or snow.
awareness that two-dimensional surfaces gain
access to a third by way of the ruled surface.
 above: Detail of connections.
below: Final installation showing transition
from stacked to expanded system.
 All photos: Valerie Bennett

[c]space
Alan Dempsey and Alvin Huang, 2008
This pavilion was designed and constructed as part of discrete concrete profiles exploits the tensile strength
the tenth-anniversary celebration of the Architectural of [fibre-C] concrete, and a simple intersecting notch
Association’s Design Research Laboratory. The joint is locked together using a bespoke rubber-gasket
competition brief called for an innovative structure assembly. The angle of intersection at each joint
that would utilize thirteen-millimeter-thick fiber- varies continuously across the structure.
reinforced-concrete panels, normally used as a The entire design process was executed with 3D
cladding material but employed here structurally to digital and physical modeling, while the development
create a temporary ten-by-ten-by-five-meter pavilion. phase was completed using rigorous constraint
The pavilion is a discontinuous shell structure, modeling and scripting to control more than 850
spanning more than ten meters of thin fiber- distinct profiles and two thousand joints. The
reinforced-concrete elements, which perform as elements were finally manufactured directly from
structure and skin, floor walls and furniture. The digital models, using CNC cutting equipment and
design takes the material to new technical limits, standard thirteen-millimeter-thick flat sheets of
having required extensive prototyping and material [fibre-C] concrete and fifteen-millimeter-thick mild
testing during the development phase. The jointing of steel plate.
above: Plan. below: Digital model describing continuous and discontinuous ribs. Analysis: Adams Kara Taylor
 032/033

All photos: floto+warner studio

BURST*.003
SYSTEMarchitects, 2006
BURST* is a prefabricated system of housing that to the site. This method reduces the assembly to a
functions like a kit of parts. It produces homes that more accessible process, much like that of a jigsaw
use building pieces to achieve individually tailored puzzle, of simply fitting together prelabeled pieces.
spaces and masses and to allow the architectural Once on-site, the parts can be connected by unskilled
shape to conform to the specifics of distinct laborers in a relatively short period of time. This
constraints. An alternative to the mass-produced works not unlike a barn raising: the structural ribs
versions of domestic life that reduce prefab housing are delivered to the site and then literally raised up
to varied arrangements of boxes, each BURST* house in place to form the frame of the house.
has the potential for unique spaces and forms, The BURST* system is founded in the belief
depending on the environment, site, orientation, that prefabrication is at the scale of the construction,
and the wants and requirements of the owners. The not at the scale of the building. The combination
BURST* prefabrication solution is capable of adjusting of precision cutting and connective knot transforms
to the biases of each project and each owner precisely the nature of the building components themselves,
because it uses computer technologies to expand as well as their assembly and relationship to one
the range of architectural form for domestic and another. The BURST* housing system has picked
inexpensive construction. up these two strains—precision-cut plywood and
The bulk of the construction process is achieved accurate connection points—to allow the frame to
on the computer, where the geometry of the house be woven together. This nuanced constructional
and the individual pieces—structural ribs, walls, system is sensitive enough to deal with and engage
floors—are resolved. They are then sent to be contemporary criteria that are in near-constant flux.
precisely cut and numbered before being delivered
left: Diagrams of constructional and wrapped surface systems.
right: Diagram of diagonal connection detail.