TOPOLOGY+ TIMBER
M.ARCH THESIS WORK
Thesis Advisors Tsz Yan Ng and Wes McGee
University of Michigan
Research Work Sponsored & In Collaboration with SOM Chicago Office
Images and documentation of work cannot be shared publicly until the opening and publishing of the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial in September. For more information or to see some of the images please contact me through the "About Me" page.
For initial research and studies, please see:
Chair 2*
www.nicolasjgarcia.com/fabrication/CHAIR-2*
Reciprocal Frame
www.nicolasjgarcia.com/fabrication/RECIPROCAL-FRAME
The Topology+ thesis section is part of an active collaboration between the University of Michigan and the Chicago office of Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM). As part of this collaboration students, professors, and professionals from SOM work to research and understand the ways in which digital fabrication can help to evolve current design and fabrication practices in order to help push the role of digital fabrication in typical construction. The focus for this year’s group was primarily timber construction along with techniques such as 5-axis CNC milling.
As a way to begin our investigations, our cohort worked to study a variety of different structural systems that could leverage common and accessible materials while also providing opportunities to uses these materials outside of their typical applications. Quickly landing on reciprocal frame structures as a potential avenue, we worked in teams to better understand the implications of these systems in order to help in the design of an exterior classroom for Ray Elementary School in the southside of Chicago.