research topic(s): bending-active timber, robotic fabrication, elastic kinematics
material: tree logs, thread rods, structural steel, and hardware
size: 35 sqft. - 36' tall
principal investigator(s): Leslie Lok of RUBI Lab { link }
contributors: Sasa Zivkovic, Kurt Jordan, and Matthew T. Reiter
project manager: Lawson Spencer
research assistants: Alexander Htet Kyaw, Shihui Xu, and Yuxuan Xu
fabrication team: Andreya Zvonar, Benjamin Ezquerra, Jordan Young, Cook Shaw, Sahil Adnan, and Maosen Xu
Ganodagan State Historic Site consultant: Michael Galban
funding provided by: Cornell Council of the Arts, the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability, Cornell AAP College of Architecture, Art, and Planning
additional links: { pdf }, { pdf }
figure_01: aerial photo of the Unlog Tower on the Cornell Arts Quad | Cynthia Kuo
UnLog Tower promotes the use of hardwood trees devastated by the ongoing EAB epidemic in North America, reconsidering (1) notions of material standardization in timber, (2) material efficiency, and (3) fabrication workflows from raw materials to mass-customized wood products. Simultaneously, UnLog Tower provokes new methods of framing for timber construction, demonstrating that EAB-infested wood can be used to create a 36’ tall, lightweight, high-performing, and fully permitted bending-active structure. This bending-active structural system was developed through a series of geometric studies, computational protocols, and physical prototypes that contribute to ongoing research in the areas of robotic fabrication with natural log geometries, bending-active structural systems, deployable structures, minimum-waste fabrication, material circularity, and Mixed Reality (MR) applications for component assembly.
figure_02: detail photo | Cynthia Kuo
figure_03: aerial perspective of the Unlog Tower on the Cornell Arts Quad | Cynthia Kuo
figure_04: aerial photo of the Unlog Tower | Cynthia Kuo
Integrating robotic fabrication and AR/MR fabrication protocols, UnLog Tower investigates how far a single log can be stretched – both literally as an assembly and figuratively as a resource. Synergistically, the project advocates for changes in resource acquisition and materials usage in the timber industry by demonstrating alternate models and workflows of construction from log to timber structure.
figure_05: detail photo | Cynthia Kuo
figure_06: detail drawings of timber splice connection
figure_07: perspective of the Unlog Tower | Cynthia Kuo
figure_08: foundation detail photo | Cynthia Kuo
figure_09: foundation drawing