ReciprocalShell: A hybrid timber system for robotically-fabricated lightweight shell structures

Paper in proceeding, 2023

Reciprocal timber systems have been widely studied, however they have never been directly applied to the segmented timber shell structures as cross bracing of the polygonal topologies. For the first time, this paper presents an innovative hybrid timber system developed for design and construction of the robotically-fabricated lightweight timber shell structures. The paper integrates two configurations of wood beams: polygonal framing and reciprocal bracing. While, the polygonal topology of facets enables a constant distance offset for the thickness of the shell, the reciprocal configuration allows for cross bracing of polygonal frames where diagonals within the polygons cannot directly connect corners due to geometric constraints resulted by the free-form surface structure of shell shapes. Joining the cross-bracing elements in the center of the polygons with a reciprocal node reduces the complexity of the connection system at nodes while demonstrating the high load-bearing capacity of joints to withstand structural loads throughout the structure, compared to connecting 5, 6 or 7 beams in a single point. The article discusses the application and limitations of the timber system while presenting the design-to-assembly process of a case study of the small-scale shell demonstrator with the maximum span of 7.5 meters made of 144 wood elements for each polygonal and reciprocal configurations. The results show that the timber system has a great capacity for the rapid and precise assembly and disassembly of prefabricated timber structures. Generation of similar but different solid elements, allowed for the development of a custom CAD data interface for the automated production of numerous pieces, where simple joint details are applied for both alignment and attachment of beams, reducing the design complexity and facilitate the construction phase. As the result, the fabrication process was completely carried out with only a saw blade in a multi-axis robotic fabrication set up that enables the rapid, precise, and accurate cuts and grooves. Both timber configurations generate a uniform distribution of beam size, meaning that the production process created only a minimal amount of offcuts that allows for the use of simple and cost-efficient, short solid wood pieces.