Digital Curvature — Experimental Study of Digital Wood Fabrication

Wood building components are all industrially fabricated. Sizes, species, and colors are all standard, which loses the interesting organic difference of nature. Also, for producing all these standard pieces, only limited species of wood can be used, and only a limited amount of trunks can be processed finally to be products. Then, lumbers will be further wasted during construction. It seems that this industrial way of wood fabrication is not quite smart in terms of efficiency and the utilization of its natural potential. Thinking about what trees really look like, you can realize most trees are curvy with changing dimensions in different parts. The inner structures of tree trunks never stop when they grow. So why can't we use whatever raw wood material we have in a smart way if we have the tool of digital simulation and robotic fabrication? So, my experimental study is to achieve a high percent utilization of curvy raw wood material to generate architectural curvature, and see what kind of architectural potential can be explored naturally, digitally, and maximally.