Timber Architecture

Research Area

In the timber research area we explore, establish and explain meaningful and novel epistemic relationships in the field of computational wood architecture and robotic timber construction. As such, we pro-actively engage and work not only with colleagues from various academic fields but also with multi-faceted stakeholders across industry and society. Finally we integratively develop computational wood building systems and design methods together with flexible robotic fabrication and construction processes with the goal to enable game-changing innovation in the wood building sector.

Related Research Projects

Universal Timber Slab

RoboCrafters

Further Development, Holistic Evaluation and Monitoring of “Hybrid Wood – Natural Fibre Composite Building System”

Lights-Off On-Site Timber Construction

RDM-Workflows

Low-Cost, High-Insulation, Layer-Reduced, Mono-Material, Adhesive-Free, Digitally-Fabricated, Solid-Timber Construction

Robotic Screw-Press Gluing

Development of Wood Building Systems for Construction Processes using Distributed Robotics

Architectural, Historical and Social Science Perspectives

Cyber-Physical Wood Fabrication Platform

Multi-Storey Wood Building System

Design, Fabrication and Engineering Methods for the Application of Curved Wood Components for High-performance and Resource-efficient Wood Construction

Timber Construction 4.0

Demonstrator building for long-span, segmented shell structures based on a robotically fabricated, lightweight timber building system

Human-Robot Collaboration in Timber Construction

Performative Design Methodology based on Robotic Fabrication

Highly Insulated and Recyclable Solid Timber Construction

Segmented Shell Structures

Wood R³ - Resource Effective, Regional, Robotically Fabricated

Robotic Fabrication in Timber Construction

Related Thesis Projects

Hygro Design

Embraced Wood

Curve-Fit

Controlled Anisotropy - A Design-Fabrication Method for Complex Timber Structures

Building Across Scales - A Robotic Timber Fabrication System for On-Site Press Gluing

b-CTC-bent - Computational Tooth Construction

Efficient Hybrid Structure for Long Span Aplications

timbRfoldR - Making Bending Active Systems Accessible in Planning, Fabrication, and Assembly

Co-Designing Material-Robot Behaviors - Systems for Autonomous Construction

Joint Effort - Robot Team Enabled Carbon Fiber Joining Strategies for Lightweight Wood Construction

Tailored Structures - Adaptive Robotic Fabrication of Sewn Veneer Composites

Robotically Fabricated Gluelam - Additive fabrication techniques for complexly shaped glued laminated timber

Fibrous Augmentation - Three dimensional fibre arrangements in hybrid timber shells

In-Formed Connetivity - Employing robotic fabrication and hygroscopic shrink-fitting for three-dimensional cellular plate structures

Assembly Agency - Adaptive Fabrication and Assembly of Segmented Timber Plate Structures

Distributed Robotic Assembly System For in Situ Timber Construction

Related Research Demonstrators and Prototypes

Urbach Tower

BUGA Wood Pavilion 2019

IBA Timber Prototype House

Distributed Robotic Assembly System for In-Situ Timber Construction

ICD Sewn Timber Shell 2017

Segmented Timber Shell, Rosenstein Museum

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2015-16

Landesgartenschau Exhibition Hall

HygroSkin: Meteorosensitive Pavilion

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2011

ICD/ITKE Research Pavilion 2010

Related Research Tools

Virtual Robot

ABxM

TIM – Flexible Robotic Timber Construction Platform

CNC Industrial Robotics Platform

Timber Pre-Fabrication Platform

Selected Publications

  1. 2024

    1. Opgenorth, N., Locatelli, D. N., Leder, S., Wagner, H. J., & Menges, A. (2024). Multi-scalar robotic fabrication system for on-site press gluing in multi-storey timber buildings. Automation in Construction, 168, 105774. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2024.105774
    2. Asa, P., El Feghali, C., Steixner, C., Tahouni, Y., Wagner, H. J., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2024). Embraced Wood: Circular construction method for composite long-span beams from unprocessed reclaimed timber, fibers and clay. Construction and Building Materials, 416(January), Article January. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2024.135096
    3. Opgenorth, N., Cheng, T., Lauer, P. R. A., Stark, T., Tahouni, Y., Treml, S., Göbel, M., Kiesewetter, L., Schlopschnat, C., Zorn, M. B., Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Wagner, H. J., Wood, D., Sawodny, O., Wortmann, T., & Menges, A. (2024). Multi-scalar computational fabrication and construction of bio-based building envelopes – the livMatS biomimetic shell. Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures, 22–31. https://doi.org/10.2307/jj.11374766.7
    4. Chai, H., Orozco, L., Kannenberg, F., Siriwardena, L., Schwinn, T., Liu, H., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2024). Agent-Based Principal Strips Modeling for Freeform Surfaces in Architecture. Nexus Network Journal, 26(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00004-024-00765-0
    5. Skoury, L., Treml, S., Opgenorth, N., Amtsberg, F., Wagner, H. J., Menges, A., & Wortmann, T. (2024). Towards data-informed co-design in digital fabrication. Automation in Construction, 158(November 2023), Article November 2023. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105229

  2. 2023

    1. Tapia Camú, C., Wagner, H. J., Treml, S., Menges, A., & Aicher, S. (2023). Point-Support Reinforcement for a Highly Efficient Timber Hollow Core Slab System. World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE 2023), 2978–2986. https://doi.org/10.52202/069179-0388
    2. Krtschil, A., Orozco, L., Wagner, H. J., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2023). Structural Performance and Nesting Efficiency of segmented, point-supported, slabs for co-designed timber architecture. Structures, 57, 105260. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.istruc.2023.105260
    3. Sahin, E. S., Locatelli, D., Orozco, L., Krtschil, A., Wagner, H. J., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2023). Feedback-Based Design Method for Spatially-Informed and Structurally-Performative Column Placement in Multi-Story Construction. In P. Yuan & N. Leach (Eds.), Phygital Intelligence.
    4. Orozco, L., Wagner, H. J., Krtschil, A., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2023). Computational Segmentation of Timber Slabs with Free Column Placement. Computer-Aided Design, 103650. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cad.2023.103650
    5. Lauer, A. P. R., Benner, E., Stark, T., Klassen, S., Abolhasani, S., Schroth, L., Gienger, A., Wagner, H. J., Schwieger, V., Menges, A., & Sawodny, O. (2023). Automated on-site assembly of timber buildings on the example of a biomimetic shell. Automation in Construction, 156, 105118. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2023.105118
    6. Sherkat, S., Skoury, L., Wortmann, A., & Wortmann, T. (2023). Artificial Intelligence Automated Task Planning for Fabrication. In K. Dörfler, J. Knippers, A. Menges, S. Parascho, H. Pottmann, & T. Wortmann (Eds.), Advances in Architectural Geometry 2023 (pp. 249--260). De Gruyter. https://doi.org/doi:10.1515/9783111162683-019
    7. Bucklin, O., Di Bari, R., Amtsberg, F., & Menges, A. (2023). Environmental Impact of a Mono-Material Timber Building Envelope with Enhanced Energy Performance. Sustainability, 15(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.3390/su15010556
    8. Orozco, L., Svatoš-Ražnjević, H., Wagner, H. J., Abdelaal, M., Amtsberg, F., Weiskopf, D., & Menges, A. (2023). Advanced Timber Construction Industry: A Quantitative Review of 646 Global Design and Construction Stakeholders. Buildings, 13(9), Article 9. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13092287
    9. Orozco, L., Krtschil, A., Wagner, H. J., Bechert, S., Amtsberg, F., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2023). Co-Design Methods for Non-Standard Multi-Storey Timber Buildings. Sustainability, 15(23), Article 23. https://doi.org/10.3390/su152316178

  3. 2022

    1. Bucklin, O., Menges, A., Amtsberg, F., Drexler, H., Rohr, A., & Krieg, O. D. (2022). Mono-material wood wall: Novel building envelope using subtractive manufacturing of timber profiles to improve thermal performance and airtightness of solid wood construction. Energy and Buildings, 254(111597), Article 111597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enbuild.2021.111597
    2. Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Skoury, L., Wagner, H. J., & Menges, A. (2022). Vizor, Facilitating Cyber-physical Workflows in Prefabrication through Augmented Reality. In J. van Ameijde, N. Gardner, K. H. Hyun, L. Dan, & U. Sheth (Eds.), Post Carbon - Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia. CAADRIA. https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2022.2.141
    3. Krtschil, A., Orozco, L., Bechert, S., Wagner, H. J., Amtsberg, F., Chen, T.-Y., Shah, A., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2022). Structural development of a novel punctually supported timber building system for multi-storey construction. Journal of Building Engineering, 58, 104972. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jobe.2022.104972
    4. Krtschil, A., Orozco, L., Wagner, H. J., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2022). Conceptual development and comparison of two punctually supported timber slab systems. Doktorandenkolloquium Holzbau Forschung + Praxis.
    5. Chai, H., Guo, Z., Wagner, H. J., Stark, T., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2022). In-Situ Robotic Fabrication of Spatial Glulam Structures. In J. van Ameijde, N. Gardner, K. H. Hyun, L. Dan, & U. Sheth (Eds.), Post Carbon - Proceedings of the 27th International Conference on Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (Vol. 2, pp. 41--50). CAADRIA. https://doi.org/10.52842/conf.caadria.2022.2.041
    6. Orozco, L., Krtschil, A., Skoury, L., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2022). Arrangement of reinforcement in variable density timber slab systems for multi-story construction. International Journal of Architectural Computing, 20(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.1177/14780771221135003
    7. Svatoš-Ražnjević, H., Orozco, L., & Menges, A. (2022). Advanced Timber Construction Industry: A Review of 350 Multi-Storey Timber Projects from 2000–2021. Buildings, 12(4), Article 4. https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings12040404
    8. Skoury, L., Amtsberg, F., Yang, X., Wagner, H. J., Menges, A., & Wortmann, T. (2022). A Framework for Managing Data in Multi-actor Fabrication Processes (C. Gengnagel, O. Baverel, G. Betti, M. Popescu, M. R. Thomsen, & J. Wurm, Eds.).
    9. Chai, H., Wagner, H. J., Guo, Z., Qi, Y., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2022). Computational design and on-site mobile robotic construction of an adaptive reinforcement beam network for cross-laminated timber slab panels. Automation in Construction, 142(August), Article August. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2022.104536

  4. 2021

    1. Wagner, H. J., Garufi, D., Schwinn, T., Wood, D. M., & Menges, A. (2021). Three-Dimensional Fibre Placement in Wood for connections and reinforcements in timber structures. In S. A. Behnejad, G. A. R. Parke, & O. A. Samavati (Eds.), Proceedings of the IASS Annual Symposium 2020/21 and the 7th International Conference on Spatial Structures. IASS.
    2. Qi, Y., Zhong, R., Kaiser, B., Tahouni, Y., Wagner, H. J., Verl, A., & Menges, A. (2021). Augmented Accuracy: A Human-Machine Integrated Adaptive Fabrication Workflow for Bamboo. In V. Stojakovic & B. Tepavcevic (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th eCAADe Conference (Vol. 1, pp. 345--354). Cumincad. http://papers.cumincad.org/cgi-bin/works/paper/ecaade2021_169
    3. Amtsberg, F., Yang, X., Skoury, L., Wagner, H.-J., & Menges, A. (2021). iHRC: An AR-based interface for intuitive, interactive and coordinated task sharing between humans and robots in building construction. In C. Feng, T. Linner, I. Brilakis, D. Castro, P.-H. Chen, Y. Cho, J. Du, S. Ergan, B. Garcia de Soto, J. Gašparík, F. Habbal, A. Hammad, K. Iturralde, T. Bock, S. Kwon, Z. Lafhaj, N. Li, C.-J. Liang, B. Mantha, … Z. Zhu (Eds.), Proceedings of the 38th International Symposium on Automation and Robotics in Construction (ISARC) (pp. 25–32). International Association for Automation and Robotics in Construction (IAARC). https://doi.org/10.22260/ISARC2021/0006
    4. Orozco, L., Krtschil, A., Wagner, H. J., Bechert, S., Amtsberg, F., Skoury, L., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2021). Design Methods for Variable Density, Multi-Directional Composite Timber Slab Systems for Multi-Storey. In V. Stojakovic & B. Tepavcevic (Eds.), Proceedings of the 39th eCAADe Conference (Vol. 1, pp. 303--312). Cumincad. http://papers.cumincad.org/cgi-bin/works/paper/ecaade2021_284
    5. Wagner, H. J., Aicher, S., Balangé, L., Basalla, U., Schwieger, V., & Menges, A. (2021). Qualities of the Unique: Accuracy and Process-Control Management in Project-based Robotic Timber Construction. World Conference on Timber Engineering 2021 - WCTE 2021.
    6. Bucklin, O., Menges, A., Krieg, O., Drexler, H., Rohr, A., & Amtsberg, F. (2021). Mono-Material Wood Wall: Digital Fabrication of Performative Wood Envelopes. Journal of Facade Design and Engineering, 9(1), Article 1. https://doi.org/10.7480/jfde.2021.1.5398.

  5. 2020

    1. Wagner, H. J., Alvarez, M., Kyjanek, O., Bhiri, Z., Buck, M., & Menges, A. (2020). Flexible and transportable robotic timber construction platform – TIM. Automation in Construction, 120, Article 120. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.autcon.2020.103400
    2. Qi, Y., Zhong, R., Kaiser, B., Nguyen, L., Wagner, H. J., Verl, A., & Menges, A. (2020). Working with Uncertainties: An Adaptive Fabrication Workflow for Bamboo Structures. In P. F. Yuan, J. Yao, C. Yan, X. Wang, & N. Leach (Eds.), Proceedings of the 2020 DigitalFUTURES. Springer Nature Switzerland AG.
    3. Bucklin, O., Menges, A., Drexler, H., & Haag, T. (2020). Development of a Mono-Material Wood Wall System: Activating Digitally Fabricated Air Cavities for High-Performance Solid Timber Construction. Technology|Architecture + Design, 4:2 Matter. https://doi.org/10.1080/24751448.2020.1804760
    4. Wagner, H. J., Chai, H., Guo, Z., Menges, A., & Yuan, P. F. (2020). Towards an On-site Fabrication System for Bespoke , Unlimited and Monolithic Timber Slabs. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS) Las Vegas, NV, USA (Virtual) - Workshop on Construction and Architecture Robotics, 2020. https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.2.14098.68802
    5. Wagner, H. J., Alvarez, M., Groenewolt, A., & Menges, A. (2020). Towards digital automation flexibility in large-scale timber construction: integrative robotic prefabrication and co-design of the BUGA Wood Pavilion. Construction Robotics, 120, Article 120. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41693-020-00038-5
    6. Menges, A., Knippers, J., Wagner, H. J., & Zechmeister, C. (2020). Pilotprojekte Für Ein Integratives Computerbasiertes Planen Und Bauen. In M. Bischoff, M. von Scheven, & B. Oesterle (Eds.), Baustatik - Baupraxis 14: Institut für Baustatik und Baudynamik (pp. 67--79). University of Stuttgart.
    7. Menges, A., Knippers, J., Wagner, H. J., & Zechmeister, C. (2020). Pilotprojekte für ein Integratives Computerbasiertes Planen und Bauen. In M. Bischoff, M. von Scheven, & B. Oesterle (Eds.), Baustatik – Baupraxis 14 (pp. 67--79). Institut für Baustatik und Baudynamik, Universität Stuttgart. http://dx.doi.org/10.18419/opus-10762

  6. 2019

    1. Sonntag, D., Aldinger, L., Bechert, S., Alvarez, M., Groenewolt, A., Krieg, O.-D., Wagner, H. J., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2019). Lightweight segmented timber shell for the Bundesgartenschau 2019 in Heilbronn. Form and Force: Proceedings of the International Association for Spactial Structures Annual Symposia 2019 Barcelona, October, Article October.
    2. Garufi, D., Wagner, H. J., Bechert, S., Schwinn, T., Wood, D. M., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2019). Fibrous Joints for Lightweight Segmented Timber Shells. In C. Leopold, C. Robeller, & U. Weber (Eds.), Research Culture in Architecture: Cross-Disciplinary Collaboration (pp. 53--64). De Gruyter / Birkhäuser. https://doi.org/10.1515/9783035620238
    3. Alvarez, M., Wagner, H. J., Groenewelt, A., Krieg, O., Kyjanek, O., Aldinger, L., Bechert, S., Sonntag, D., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2019). The buga wood pavilion - Integrative interdisciplinary advancements of digital timber architecture. In K. Bieg, D. Briscoe, & C. Odom (Eds.), ACADIA – Ubiquity and Autonomy - Proceedings of the 39th ACADIA Conference 2019 (pp. 490--499).

  7. 2018

    1. Horn, R., Groenewelt, A., Krieg, O., & Gantner, J. (2018). Ökobilanzierung von Lebensende-Optionen, Szenarien im bauphysikalischen Kontext am Beispiel segmentierter Holzschalenkonstruktionen. Bauphysik, 5/2018, Article 5/2018. https://doi.org/10.1002/bapi.201800007
    2. Krieg, O., Bechert, S., Groenewelt, A., Horn, R., Knippers, J., & Menges, A. (2018). Affordances of Complexity: Evaluation of a Robotic Production Process for Segmented Timber Shell Structures. WCTE Proceedings of the 2018 World Conference on Timber Engineering, 1--8.
    3. Bechert, S., Groenewelt, A., Krieg, O., Menges, A., & Knippers, J. (2018). Structural Performance of Construction Systems for Segmented Timber Shell Structures. IASS – Creativity in Structural Design Proceedings of the IASS Symposium 2018.

  8. 2015

    1. Krieg, O. D., Schwinn, T., Menges, A., Li, J.-M., Knippers, J., Schmitt, A., & Schwieger, V. (2015). Biomimetic lightweight timber plate shells : computational integration of robotic fabrication, architectural geometry and structural design. Advances in Architectural Geometry 2014, 109–125. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-11418-7_8

  9. 2009

    1. Menges, A. (2009). Performative Wood: Integral Computational Design for Timber Construction. ReForm( ): Building a Better Tomorrow - Proceedings of the 29th Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design In Architecture (ACADIA), 66–74.
    2. Menges, A. (2009). Performative Wood: Integral Computational Design for Timber Constructions. ReForm( ) - Building a Better Tomorrow Proceedings of the 29th Annual Conference of the Association for Computer Aided Design in Architecture (ACADIA), 22–25.

Contact Information

This image shows Hans Jakob Wagner

Hans Jakob Wagner

M.Sc. ITECH (Dist.), B.Sc. (Arch.)

Research Group Leader | Computational Wood Architecture

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