Author Christopher Beorkrem shows how material performance drives the digital fabrication process and determines technique. He has recreated and dissected thirty-six of the most progressive works of architecture of the last few years, with perspectives from the designers so that you can learn from the successes and failures of each project. Including step-by-step diagrams and using consistent language and the simplest construction techniques, he identifies the important characteristics of each material, including connection types, relative costs, deformation, color, texture, finish, dimensional properties, durability, and weathering and waterproofing to link the design outcomes to form. The book is divided into five parts by material – wood, metal, concrete, hybrids, and recycled – to help you reference construction techniques for the fabrication machines you have on-hand.

In this second edition of Material Strategies in Digital Fabrication are new case studies, improved wayfinding, the inclusion of composites and plastics, and references to similar strategies between different projects. In 400 step-by-step diagrams dissecting 39 case studies in 10 countries on 3 continents, the book shows you how material performance drives the digital fabrication process and determines technique. The book identifies the important characteristics of each material, including connection types, relative costs, deformation, color, texture, finish, dimensional properties, durability, and weathering and waterproofing to link design outcomes to form. The book is divided into five main chapters by material; wood, metal, concrete/masonry, composites/plastics, and recycled/pre-cycled, to help you reference construction techniques for the fabrication machines you have on-hand. Includes projects by SHoP Architects, Gramazio & Kohler, Schindlersalmeron, The Institute for Computational Design (Achim Menges, Patkau Architects,Sebastien Wierinck, Blue Dot Furniture, Marble Fairbanks, Studio Gang Architects, Macdowell.Tomova, Thomas Heatherwick Studio, Heather Roberge, MX3D, Matsys, Asbjorn Sondergaard, Block Research Group (Phillipe Block), Ball Nogues Studio, Matter Design, WORK Architecture Company, and SoftLab.

Digital Fabrications, the second volume in our new Architecture Briefs series, celebrates the design ingenuity made possible by digital fabrication techniques. Author Lisa Iwamoto explores the methods architects use to calibrate digital designs with physical forms. The book is organized according to five types of digital fabrication techniques: tessellating, sectioning, folding, contouring, and forming. Projects are shown both in their finished forms and in working drawings, templates, and prototypes, allowing the reader to watch the process of each fantastic construction unfold. Digital Fabrications presents projects designed and built by emerging practices that pioneer techniques and experiment with fabrication processes on a small scale with a do-it-yourself attitude. Featured architects include AEDS/Ammar Eloueini, Atelier Manferdini, Brennan Buck, MOS, Office dA, Florencia Pita/MOD, Mafoomby, URBAN A+O, SYSTEMarchitects, Andrew Kudless/Matsys, IwamotoScott, Atelier Hitoshi Abe, Chris Bosse, Tom Wiscombe/EMERGENT, Thom Faulders Architecture, Jeremy Ficca, SPAN, GNUFORM, Heather Roberge, PATTERNS, Ruy Klein, and servo.

Blaine Brownell's best-selling Transmaterial series has introduced designers to hundreds of emergent materials that have the potential to transform our built environment. In our new Architecture Brief, Material Strategies, Brownell shows architects how creative applications of these materials achieve such transformations. Chapters based on fundamental material categories examine historical precedents, current opportunities, and future environmental challenges. Case studies featuring detailed illustrations showcase pioneering buildings from today's most forward-thinking architectural firms.

This book highlights computationally enabled and digitally fabricated strategies used in the design of a series of full-size wooden structures. It introduces theoretical foundations and then focuses on the possibilities that have emerged as a result of the material-aware processes. The case studies expound wood as one of the most suitable materials to experience the seamless framework introduced with the digital design-to-construction chain. Two main aspects of the pavilions constructed, developed in various international academic groups, are considered. On one hand the case studies explore tolerances of raw and engineered material intertwined with machine processing; they also address material enhancement through strip applications in timber construction. In addition, the structures are examined in the light of an extensible designing path, which acts as an interoperable procedure, bridging the virtual and the real.

Digital technologies are changing the relationship between design and construction: with computer models, CAD/CAM, and prototyping, designers can gain direct control of building and construction processes. The ability to digitally model designs, and thus to use those models directly in the context of production, creates a synthesis between design and construction in keeping with the tradition of the close relationship between design and craftsmanship, between the quality of the design and the rules of the craft. The evolution of the culture of design and construction is the underlying theme of this book. The aim is to discuss the direction that innovation is now taking, with a particular focus on today’s cutting-edge architectures. The method addresses the ways in which different societies have dealt with the issues of their age regarding design and construction, the different contributions provided by various techniques, and with them the meanings expressed by the architecture. As building design using digital tools requires specific skills in the fabrication processes and in the languages used by information technology, the book also offers a practical guide to new methods and techniques of managing and controlling fabrication for AEC. A systematic analysis of new skills used in the design process presents an overview of opportunities for architects and engineers. By collecting information on significant projects and analyzing them, the book explores the technical and artistic potential of digital technology. The cases studied are the outcomes of groundbreaking projects which were able to give form and significance to technological research. They show that digital tools are not the exclusive prerogative of large firms but can also be adopted by teams working across small and medium-sized firms – firms which have been able to use informed research to link innovative design with the possibilities offered by digital fabrication in architecture.

Design Transactions presents the outcome of new research to emerge from ‘Innochain’, a consortium of six leading European architectural and engineering-focused institutions and their industry partners. The book presents new advances in digital design tooling that challenge established building cultures and systems. It offers new sustainable and materially smart design solutions with a strong focus on changing the way the industry thinks, designs, and builds our physical environment. Divided into sections exploring communication, simulation and materialisation, Design Transactions explores digital and physical prototyping and testing that challenges the traditional linear construction methods of incremental refinement. This novel research investigates ‘the digital chain’ between phases as an opportunity for extended interdisciplinary design collaboration. The highly illustrated book features work from 15 early-stage researchers alongside chapters from world-leading industry collaborators and academics.