Until now, machines have been responsible for cutting raw materials to size during timber construction, but in most cases the modules still have to be manually assembled, explains the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich in a statement. 

This is now set to change as part of a new project by the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication. 

Researchers from ETH Zurich’s Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication have developed a new, digital timber construction method called Spatial Timber Assemblies, where man and machine work together in both the planning and manufacturing process. 

Two robots not only saw timber beams to size or drill the required holes for connecting the beams. They also work together to position the beams in the precise spatial arrangement based on the computer layout, allowing the workers to then manually bolt the beams together.

Spatial Timber Assemblies makes it possible to do away with reinforcement plates because the required rigidity and load-bearing result from the geometric structure. It also opens the door to efficiently construct and assemble geometrically complex timber modules.

The new construction method will be used for the first time in the DFAB HOUSE project at the Empa and EawagNEST modular research building in Dübendorf. A computer-aided design model created six spatial, geometrically unique timber modules consisting of 487 timber beams in total, and the project will be assembled using construction robots developed at ETH Zurich’s new Robotic Fabrication Laboratory. 

The modules, which evolved from a close collaboration with Erne AG Holzbau, will remain visible behind a transparent membrane façade in the DFAB HOUSE.