Until now, machines have only been used for cutting the raw material to size in timber construction. It still had to be manually assembled to create a plane frame. Under the auspices of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCRs) Digital Fabrication, researchers from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) Chair of Architecture and Digital Fabrication have developed a new Spatial Timber Assemblies construction method in close collaboration with Erne AG Holzbau. It enables man and machine to work together in both the planning and the manufacturing process.
Two robots not only saw the timber beam to size and drill the required holes for connecting the beam, they also position the beams in the precise spatial arrangement based on the computer layout. Workers can then manually bolt the beams together. As a result, Spatial Timber Assemblies can manage without reinforcement plates as well as enabling the efficient construction and assembly of geometrically complex timber modules which was previously not possible.
These construction technologies evolved from a collaboration between ETH and Erne AG Holzbau, which is part of the Aargau-based ERNE Group. It plans to integrate some of this technology in its own manufacturing processes in future. ERNE also operates as a general contractor with a focus on the planning process and data management.
The new construction method is being tested for the first time in the DFAB HOUSE project at the Empa NEST research and innovation construction site in Dübendorf. A computer-aided design model is being used to create a total of six spatial, geometrically unique timber modules from 487 timber beams.
