Reimagining Timber treats out-of-grade timber as a structural material for long-span cross-laminated timber (CLT) slabs. Rather than following a sequential design-then-construct workflow, the project integrates architecture, computational design, structural engineering, and advanced manufacturing, with a closed-loop feedback between the timber that is available and the structural form.
The design process starts from an initial slab form, which is refined by topology optimisation form-finding. A packing algorithm then places the out-of-grade timber pieces within the optimised form, and structural analysis checks the result. Scaled prototypes were built with discrete assembly techniques, which allowed precise construction and close collaboration between architects and structural engineers. The project applies the Lab’s research on resource-adaptive design.
A small-scale prototype was launched at the RMIT Design Hub during Melbourne Design Week 2025, and the project was presented at the 2025 World Conference on Timber Engineering (WCTE) in Brisbane.
Project Team: Ding Wen (Nic) Bao, Dan Luo, Joe Gattas, Lingju Wu, Asteria Chen, Abbie Lin, Tyler Wang, Zhuoyang Xin; Jinbang Liang, Parcey Liu, Kun Dai, Rita Lin, Zixin Wang, Amanda Chen, Harlan Guo; Xin Yan, Kang Liu.
Partners: RMIT University, The University of Queensland, and ARC Advance Timber Hub.
Other Project Pages:
Further Information: DOI:10.52202/080513-0329.