Reciprocal systems based on superimposition joints, i.e. where un-notched bars sits on the top or in the bottom of each other, could be regarded as being intrinsically three-dimensional because of their natural out-of plane development. This paper presents seven of these three-dimensional configurations, conceived and built by the students of the Master of Science in ''Architectural Design'' at Aalborg University. They have been developed as an integral part of a 2-week workshop, organized and run by the authors during the fall semester 2011. Since physical models are instruments that trigger the exploration of new typologies because of the direct interaction they provide with the designer the students were called to deal with the issue of three-dimensionality in reciprocal systems through scale models and actual scale prototypes.

This paper presents the reciprocalizer, a grasshopper plugin developed to design reciprocal structures. The plugin can handle the full set of geometric parameters necessary to describe the geometry of reciprocally connected elements in real-time. This makes it an agile design tool for the exploration of the geometrical richness of reciprocal structures.

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The use of timber allows reducing the environmental impact in the construction sector. However, as the demand for construction timber rises, the pressure on the world’s forest is increasing too. To maintain an adequate supply of timber from sustainable forests in the coming decades, the building industry must adopt practices that reduce the impact on forestry. Reuse is one of the principles of Circular Economy (CE). Among the technical challenges of reuse are the variability and the short size of the stock of elements coming either from demolition or from new construction, such as cut-offs and temporary scaffolding. This work presents a study for the design of structural configurations with short and non-regular sized elements that would normally be considered waste. The configurations are based on the principle of structural reciprocity and are generated by an optimization algorithm that allows minimizing the material waste and maximizing the stock elements use. A computational strategy based on the SPEA-II multi-objective method is employed for the investigation of optimal trade-offs between competing objective functions, such as structural lightness and optimal use of stock inventory. The goal of this work is demonstrating the feasibility of an industrial process, borrowing key elements from the Industry 4.0 paradigm, for a streamlined and economical production of standardized building components using non-standard reclaimed elements.