Computational design for cooperative robotic assembly of nonstandard timber frame buildings

The research described in this dissertation investigates a novel computational design method and couples it with the cooperative robotic assembly of bespoke timber frame modules to facilitate the design, planning, and construction of nonstandard modular timber frame buildings. This research aim is formulated in response to a dominant critical gap found in contemporary timber architecture: the design of the majority of nonstandard timber buildings follows a top-down, form-making approach with minimal consideration of material and manufacturing constraints. This form-making approach results in the employment of post-rationalization to facilitate construction. Accordingly, a key criterion for developing the novel computational design method described in this dissertation is to identify, formalize, and integrate constraints of a prototypical robotic manufacturing process into the early phases of the design process to minimize the need for post-rationalization while making feasible the realization of innovative architectures. Three key research objectives are identfied and experimentally explored: 1) Design techniques for cooperative robotic assembly of bespoke timber frame modules, 2) Design techniques for modularizing robotically assembled timber frame buildings, and 3) The incorporation of these techniques and their constraints into the development of an integrative computational design method. These objectives are developed through computational design studies and physical prototypes and validated in a real-world case study building. The results of this research demonstrate that through the development of cooperative robotic assembly techniques of timber frame modules and formalization of their constraints as key design drivers, the presented computational design method has the potential to bridge the gap between design and making. Furthermore, the case study building reveals the architectural implications of this research through its expressive and highly differentiated timber frame structure, responding to performance criteria such as structural requirements. Hence, this doctoral research contributes on two main fronts: to the development of integrative computational design methods for robotic timber assembly in architecture; and to the advancement of current approaches in modular timber frame construction, offering invaluable potential for the design and manufacture of highly articulated timber architecture.