Second Life for CLT
Type: Sculptural Furniture + Robotics + Computational Design
Medium: Rhino + Grasshopper + Blender + Photoshop + Illustrator
Team: Edward Park (at DIALOG Design) and Concept Lab
Year: 2023-2024
Location: Vancouver Street Dance Festival - Vancouver, BC
Medium: Rhino + Grasshopper + Blender + Photoshop + Illustrator
Team: Edward Park (at DIALOG Design) and Concept Lab
Year: 2023-2024
Location: Vancouver Street Dance Festival - Vancouver, BC
The Concept
Structural testing destroys engineered timber. When laboratories push Cross Laminated Timber to the point of failure, they leave behind massive industrial offcuts. The remaining wood is structurally pristine but functionally dead. This research initiative intercepts that specific waste stream, treating industrial refuse as raw spatial mass. It is a physical argument for a material afterlife, proving that engineered timber holds a second spatial identity long after its primary structural purpose is spent.
The Computation
You cannot mass produce irregular waste. To upcycle unpredictable offcuts at an industrial scale, the fabrication pipeline must be entirely adaptive. The research develops generative workflows to read the dimensional limits of recovered CLT billets and map new spatial geometries inside them. Physical production relies on an ABB 6-axis industrial robot to test the limitations of the hardware. Toolpaths are written to explore the mechanical constraints of the arm, forcing the machine to leave a permanent, stepped record of the digital tool carving through the heavy timber. This ongoing computational testing establishes the ground rules for automating the translation of structural waste into spatial architecture.
The Lifecycle
The initiative operates as an ongoing research collaboration between DIALOG and Concept Lab. Before introducing advanced robotics, early interventions deployed heavy, unmodified CLT blocks directly into the urban realm. Arranged as brutalist seating for the Vancouver Street Dance Festival (2023), the raw mass anchored the crowd, providing feature seating for judges and activating the concrete plaza. Following the event, the pieces were dispersed. The majority were donated to the public, while two were integrated directly into the DIALOG studio renovation. This analog deployment established the physical foundation for the next phase of the research: the robotically carved Sibling Bench collection.
Structural testing destroys engineered timber. When laboratories push Cross Laminated Timber to the point of failure, they leave behind massive industrial offcuts. The remaining wood is structurally pristine but functionally dead. This research initiative intercepts that specific waste stream, treating industrial refuse as raw spatial mass. It is a physical argument for a material afterlife, proving that engineered timber holds a second spatial identity long after its primary structural purpose is spent.
The Computation
You cannot mass produce irregular waste. To upcycle unpredictable offcuts at an industrial scale, the fabrication pipeline must be entirely adaptive. The research develops generative workflows to read the dimensional limits of recovered CLT billets and map new spatial geometries inside them. Physical production relies on an ABB 6-axis industrial robot to test the limitations of the hardware. Toolpaths are written to explore the mechanical constraints of the arm, forcing the machine to leave a permanent, stepped record of the digital tool carving through the heavy timber. This ongoing computational testing establishes the ground rules for automating the translation of structural waste into spatial architecture.
The Lifecycle
The initiative operates as an ongoing research collaboration between DIALOG and Concept Lab. Before introducing advanced robotics, early interventions deployed heavy, unmodified CLT blocks directly into the urban realm. Arranged as brutalist seating for the Vancouver Street Dance Festival (2023), the raw mass anchored the crowd, providing feature seating for judges and activating the concrete plaza. Following the event, the pieces were dispersed. The majority were donated to the public, while two were integrated directly into the DIALOG studio renovation. This analog deployment established the physical foundation for the next phase of the research: the robotically carved Sibling Bench collection.
