ReconWood Proto 02

ABOUT THE PROJECT

ReconWood Proto 02 is the second experimental construction prototype from the ReconWood project series. It is used to demonstrate the concept of Material Digital Twin, an online material database that is directly connected to both computational models and physical materials where real-time exchange of design, simulation, assembly, and construction information can unfold. The individual ReconBlocks are envisioned as materials that can “travel” from one structure to another while carrying their associated datasets, which allow them to be tracked, traced and reused in a data-informed fashion. This data-driven reconfigurability extends beyond a pure concept of circularity, as it suggests higher design flexibility and formal transformation driven by the material’s inherited performance throughout various life cycles. To enable reconfiguration in both the design and construction of ReconWood Proto 02, data circularity is assured equally as material circularity, linking material data to a physical material stock.

The ReconWood Proto 02 is developed as a multi-material and multi-resolution timber frame structure, which is structurally optimized for the reuse of its parts. The project seeks to balance the ever-growing demand for new timber as a construction material and the available resources, by introducing re-usable and re-configurable discrete wood elements that are computationally generated, robotically fabricated and (re)assembled, and that have all of their identity and history accessible through embedded QR code imprints. The project challenges current building practices and “end-of-life” concepts by enabling materials-and-data circularity through information-driven design and construction processes.