Throughout the last two decades the timber building sector has experienced a steady growth in multi-storey construction. Although there has been a growing number of research focused on trends, benefits, and disadvantages in timber construction from various technical perspectives, so far there is no extensive literature on the trajectory of emerging architectural typologies. This paper presents an examination of architectural variety and spatial possibilities in current serial and modular multi-storey timber construction. It aims to draw a parallel between architectural characteristics and their relation to structural systems in timber. The research draws from a collection of 350 contemporary multi-storey timber building projects between 2000 and 2021. It consists of 300 built projects, 12 projects currently in construction, and 38 design proposals. The survey consists of quantitative and qualitative project data, as well as classification of the structural system, material, program, massing, and spatial organization of the projects. It then compares the different structural and design aspects to achieve a comprehensive overview of possibilities in timber construction. The outcome is an identification of the range of morphologies and a better understanding of the design space in current serial and modular multi-storey mass timber construction.

We combine materials engineering and digital processing to design and print cellulose-based continuous stiffness gradients.

We developed biomimetic hygro-responsive composite polymer scales inspired by the reversible shape-changes of Bhutan pine ( Pinus wallichiana ) cone seed scales. The synthetic kinematic response is made possible through novel four-dimensional (4D) printing techniques with anisotropic material use, namely copolymers with embedded cellulose fibrils and ABS polymer. Multi-phase motion like the subsequent transversal and longitudinal bending deformation during desiccation of a natural pinecone scale can be structurally programmed into such printed hygromorphs. Both the natural concept generator (Bhutan pinecone scale) and the biomimetic technical structure (4D printed scale) were comparatively investigated as to their displacement and strain over time via three-dimensional digital image correlation methods. Our bioinspired prototypes can be the basis for tailored autonomous and self-sufficient flap and scale structures performing complex consecutive motions for technical applications, e.g. in architecture and soft robotics. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Bioinspired materials and surfaces for green science and technology (part 3)’.

This paper discusses the digital automation workflows and co-design methods that made possible the comprehensive robotic prefabrication of the BUGA Wood Pavilion—a large-scale production case study of robotic timber construction. Latest research in architectural robotics often focuses on the advancement of singular aspects of integrated digital fabrication and computational design techniques. Few researchers discuss how a multitude of different robotic processes can come together into seamless, collaborative robotic fabrication workflows and how a high level of interaction within larger teams of computational design and robotic fabrication experts can be achieved. It will be increasingly important to discuss suitable methods for the management of robotics and computational design in construction for the successful implementation of robotic fabrication systems in the context of the industry. We present here how a co-design approach enabled the organization of computational design decisions in reciprocal feedback with the fabrication planning, simulation and robotic code generation. We demonstrate how this approach can implement direct and curated reciprocal feedback between all planning domains—paving the way for fast-paced integrative project development. Furthermore, we discuss how the modularization of computational routines simplify the management and computational control of complex robotic construction efforts on a per-project basis and open the door for the flexible reutilization of developed digital technologies across projects and building systems.

In response to the global challenge of reducing carbon emissions and energy consumption from regulating indoor climates, we investigate the applicability of biobased cellulosic materials and bioinspired 4D-printing for weather-responsive adaptive shading in building facades. Cellulose is an abundantly available natural material resource that exhibits hygromorphic actuation potential when used in 4D-printing to emulate motile plant structures in bioinspired bilayers. Three key aspects are addressed: (i) examining the motion response of 4D-printed hygromorphic bilayers to both temperature and relative humidity, (ii) verifying the responsiveness of self-shaping shading elements in lab-generated conditions as well as under daily and seasonal weather conditions for over a year, and (iii) deploying the adaptive shading system for testing in a real building facade by upscaling the 4D-printing manufacturing process. This study demonstrates that hygromorphic bilayers can be utilized for weather-responsive facades and that the presented system is architecturally scalable in quantity. Bioinspired 4D-printing and biobased cellulosic materials offer a resource-efficient and energy-autonomous solution for adaptive shading, with potential contributions towards indoor climate regulation and climate change mitigation.

Increasing the construction capacity, while at the same time significantly reducing harmful emissions and consumption of nonrenewable resources, and still providing a liveable and affordable built environment, provides a great challenge for future construction. In order to achieve this, both the productivity of construction processes and the energy and resource efficiency of construction systems have to be improved in a reciprocal process. Digital technologies make it possible to address these challenges in novel ways. The vision of this Cluster of Excellence IntCDC at the University of Stuttgart and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems is to harness the full potential of digital technologies to rethink design and construction based on integration and interdisciplinarity, with the goal of laying the methodological foundations to profoundly modernize the design and construction process and related building systems by adopting a systematic, holistic and integrative computational approach. One key objective is to develop an overarching methodology of “co‐designing” methods, processes and systems based on interdisciplinary research encompassing architecture, structural engineering, building physics, engineering geodesy, manufacturing and systems engineering, computer science and robotics, and humanities and social sciences. In this way, the Cluster aims to address the ecological, economic and social challenges and to provide the prerequisites for a high‐quality and sustainable built environment and a digital building culture.