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This paper examines the evolution of a teaching methodology and agenda of a series of intense workshops deployed and evolved with master students of architectural school. Especially, having the objective of digital manufacturing, merging in one single worklow, designing, materials and CNC methods; Milling, 3D printing and laser cutting. By simulating multiple aspects of developed processes with a bottom up approach the goal was to achieve the establishment of a unique panel based on the knowledge of the tool. The geometrical conigurations require also to take in account tolerances together with machine procedures and material behaviour. The adopted approach implements material and tool intuition into a learning by doing process to steer the design based on material and fabrication methods.

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This paper examines how the evolution of architectural generative design processes aim to apply similar physical and geometrical principles of biological processes taking place during development and to translate them to fabrication processes. In analogy to the reaction-diffusion mechanism for biological pattern prediction, the logic of stripe is used as construction system and examined for its structural behaviour. Both, mesh relaxation processes and weighted mesh graphs representations are employed as design tools for the construction of a minimal thin shell structural skin with branching topologies. Eventually the design workflow is extended to engage also collaborative fabrication processes and to steer the design based on intuition, knowledge of the fabrication tools, properties of the materials, manufacturing simulations and logic of assemble. This approach could lead to the optimization of material usage and machine time and facilitate the assembly process of a physical object which integrates the whole process into its form. The outcomes have been used to fabricate a prototype, using three different materials and digital fabrication methods, to examine the stability and the mechanical connectivity by taking in count the tolerances. The paper argues that biological skin patterns and segmentation in fabrication open a new field of interdisciplinary investigation and architectural applications.