
Timber Gridshells built from Asymptotic and Geodesic Lamellas: Holistic Design towards Industrial Production.
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This work presents a resource- and cost-saving strategy to design and industrially build freeform timber gridshells from straight timber planks, which are elastically formed into a doubly curved web. Building upon recent advances in differential geometry and state-of-the-art simulation of elastic bending and torsion, we combine asymptotic (A) and geodesic (G) curves into hybrid AAG-Gridshells on anticlastic surfaces. We present a holistic digital workflow to design and optimize the timber AAG-Grids, integrating constraints of production, transport and structure from the very beginning. The design and fabrication process is aligned with building standards and industry practices, paving the way for a commercially produced construction system that meets both structural and architectural requirements. This new construction system benefits from the targeted use of the two differing bending axes of timber planks to balance flexibility and rigidity. The asymptotic grid is assembled flat and utilizes the biaxial compliance of the cross sections, together with rotational freedom at the joints, to achieve a self-guided deformation into the freeform geometry. The flat geodesic planks triangulate the structure and form a sublayer for cladding and insulated roof construction. As proof of concept, a fully prefabricated large-scale timber gridshell spanning 12.5 m was designed and built in collaboration with a timber construction company, Holzbau Amann. We document the construction process, including manufacturing, prefabrication, elastic deformation, and assembly. The structure is tested and simulated to validate our computational results and to verify constructive tolerances and feasibility.