Towards a Digitally Fabricated Disassemble-able Building System - A CNC fabricated T-Slot Joint

Abstract

Growing dissemination of digital fabrication technologies coupled with a renewed interest in wood as a construction material have led to a resurgence of research into integral wood joints. Recent research on digitally fabricated wood joints has focused primarily on robotic or on CNC router produced snap-fit or tab-and-slot joints. These types of joints have several problems in sheathing to structure connections. The present paper reports on research into design and fabrication of T-slot joints that allow hidden back-face connections which are disassemble-able.It is part of an ongoing research whose aim is to develop disassemble-able and mass customizable construction system of partition walls for building renovation.

A Life-Cycle Approach to Investigate the Potential of Novel Biobased Construction Materials toward a Circular Built Environment

“…CLT is a timber-based building system whereby a high level of control in the prefabrication and simplicity of handling reduces the overall construction duration [34], making this building system efficient, despite its comparatively higher initial material cost, with respect to traditional assembly types, including both concrete and traditional timber framing [35][36][37]. In terms of supporting circular construction, CLT allows the specification of reversible connections that can allow for the conversion of assemblies and subassemblies into basic materials; this can be a very significant contribution to transitioning traditional timber systems toward DfD, which is one of the fundamental tenants of designing for a future "circular" material economy in which the component parts of one type of construction can be renovated for adaptation and/or recuperation and reintegration into a different construction assembly [38]. In the context of emerging economies in the Global South, in which the projected consumption of nonrenewable, carbon-intensive construction materials such as concrete and steel is projected to accelerate with progressive densification of cities and infrastructure, the ability to reintegrate components and materials is significant.…”

“…It is also noteworthy that manufactured products such as CLT and bamboo-based composites are increasingly being designed as modules for direct disassembly and reuse at end of life [38,62]. To partly take this into account, a further sensitivity analysis was performed, whereby those parts of the wall assemblies which could be reused in a similar application are labeled as such (see Tables 1-4), and their associated life-cycle impacts are discounted over two consecutive lifetimes.…”

Interactive algorithm for generating accurate as-built plans by building owners

“…Therefore, it is necessary to develop the construction system, the generative process for digital design and fabrication and a graphical user interface for building owners to interact. We have developed a partition wall construction system (Brandão, Paio and Antunes, 2018). The current paper reports on a part of the development of the interface for the parametric design system.…”