Case study houses 2.0 : Mass-customised multi-storey timber buildnings : Competitive high-rise timber structures from an architectural and engineering point of view

The authors present a rule-based system that applies to the architecture of innovative tall timber buildings, and provide examples of interesting multi-storey timber buildings that can be constructed through the application of those rules. In addition, they discuss how mass customisation is a driving force for this kind of architecture. Using the famous 1945-1966 Case Study Houses Program (CSHP) as a starting point for their investigations, they proceed to argue that the time has come for a new iteration of that program to be carried out: an updated, contemporary version that seeks to promote the virtues – from sustainability to cost effectiveness, from reduced foundations to flexibility and adaptability over time – of engineered timber architecture in general, and highrise timber buildings in particular, in a way similar to the steel-and-glass structures advocated by the initiators of that original scheme. Following from this, the notion of mass customisation as a preferred method for the construction of these new “Case Study Houses 2.0” buildings is investigated in further detail, from its historical background via current-day applications through to informed speculations on how the technology could be used in the near future as part of a production chain that might support the construction of these mass-customised multi-storey timber buildings. Finally, examples of how contemporary digital technologies and manufacturing processes can further enhance the final execution of the building typologies through mass-customisation at the detail scale are discussed, showing how such implementations impact on the project.Godkänd; 2012; 20121017 (ysko