Parametric Design of Drone-Compatible Architectural Timber Structures

The additive manufacturing of real scale structures using drones (or UAV = Unmanned Arial Vehicle) is a new discipline with challenges as broad as the opportunities it opens up for the future. This research, carried out jointly by MIT and UCL since more than 3 years, has investigated several aspects related both to the UAVs flight behavior while transporting heavy loads and the development of “drone compatible” construction elements, in particular masonry systems [1] [2] and timber systems [3]. The challenges that such a construction process require are numerous but mainly: - The possibility of building large scale structures composed of elements with a mass < 100 kg; - The precise positioning of the drone. A maximum inaccuracy of 5 cm around a theoretical point is possible according to lab tests made with a big drone at the UCLouvain Dronezone. In this context, using timber makes sense since the ratio between its weight and its mechanical characteristics is very good. Furthermore, ancient wood-to-wood connections, such as the ones inspired from the Japanese architecture, are a good source of inspiration for this research [3]. This article will focus on various complex architectural shapes of timber space structures that show the interest of combining parametric design with the drone-based construction. The structures are generated using Grasshopper and Rhinoceros 3D software in order to standardize the connections despite the complex shapes