21.11.2024 – Lecture “Timber construction research at the Cluster of Excellence IntCDC”

The research method of the Co-Design approach was illustrated by the development of a slab system, in which digital planning methods, automated production processes and the resulting material and construction systems are considered together. In the ITECH Master's degree course, the teaching manifests itself in construction objects, such as the ITECH Research Pavilion 2024. During the Master's thesis of the same course, a prototype was created for the support reinforcement of point-supported cross-laminated timber panels using hardwood inserts made of LVL beech. As part of the IntCDC cluster, research and networking is carried out in many subject areas such as multi-storey timber construction, timber shells, self-shaping wood, wood and natural fibers, engineering & construction, information systems, automated construction sites and more.

From left to right:

Image 1: ITECH Research Pavilion 2024

Image 2: Hybrid Flax Pavilion

Image 3: livMatS Biomimetic Shell and it´s Cyber-Physical On-Site Assembly

Image 4: Information Systems, RP 21-1

Image 5: Engineering & ConstruCtion, RP 32-1

Image 6: Multi-storey timber construction, RP 3-2

Robotics is still in its infancy in timber construction. In practice, its use is usually limited to simple “pick and place” tasks. The speaker presented many research approaches and projects to automate both prefabrication and assembly on the construction site, to make them more efficient and to optimize them overall. This is because prefabrication and fast assembly are intrinsic advantages of timber construction and can be decisive for the fast and cost-efficient realization of timber buildings. Examples of research include assembly with the robot spider crane, mobile robot platforms or robotic screw-press gluing. Using the example of the Buga Wood Pavilion, the circularity of the robotically produced segmented shells could be well illustrated with the move from Heilbronn to Mannheim.

From left to right:

Image 1: BUGA Wood Pavilion

Image 2: Robotic Screw-Press Gluing, AP 13

Image 3: Spider Crane Robotic Platform for On-Site Construction, RP 16-2

Image 4: Adaption of Construction Robots and Building Components, RP 35-1

The use of curved timber components, such as in the Wangen Tower, or self-shaping timber components, such as in the ITECH Research Pavilion 2023, are further exciting fields of research. With self- shaping wood, a bi-layer with a dry and a moist wood layer is glued together, thus starting a process in which the wood bends itself into the desired shape through drying, without the wooden component having to be deformed beforehand by external force. In the truest sense of the word, the lighthouse project here is the observation tower in Wangen, which has already been presented at several proHolzBW events as part of the State Garden Show in Wangen 2024.

From left to right:

Image 1: Wangen Tower

Image 2: Application Methods of Curved Wood Components, AP3

Image 3: ITECH Research Pavilion 2023

After many years of research experience in the planning and production of segmental shells, whose material efficiency is based on nature's models, the focus of research has shifted towards multi-storey timber construction, not least due to feedback from the industry. This is also where the timber construction system with multi-axis, point-supported timber slabs is located, which is to be used in the future cluster building on the campus in Vaihingen. A further development / variation of the multi-axis tensioned slab system has been launched this year with the applied research project “Universal Timber Slab” as part of the European EIC Pathfinder program.

From left to right:

Image 1: Implementation of the “Universal Timber Slab” in an exemplary building layout

Image 2 + 3: Example of a point-supported slab with rectangular and variable layout

Stay up to date with the latest information on the Universal Timber Slab

The “Timber Construction Thursday” offers four formats to take you on a journey into modern timber construction and the built future: Every first Thursday of the month there is “Der Werkvortrag”, every second Thursday of the month the seminar “Im Detail”, every third Thursday of the month the seminar “Cluster Innovativ” and every fourth Thursday of the month the seminar “Ressource Wald und Holz”. Holzbau-Donnerstag is an event organized by proHolzBW on behalf of the Holzbau-Offensive BW.

Text: Esther Reinwand, Moritz Mahlke
Images: ©ICD/ITKE/IntCDC Universität Stuttgart