In July 2016, the University of Queensland opened a new Centre for Future Timber Structures (CFTS). The Folded Structures Lab in collaboration with Baber Studio developed a pavilion to showcase technology developed through the Centre.

The inaugural CFTS Research Pavilion developed a new type of bending-active structures and investigated fabrication techniques for rapid assembly of long-span cantilever structures.

Project Team: Joseph Gattas, Kim Baber, Yousef Al-Qaryouti, Ting-Uei Lee, Jordan Hunter, Stephen Joseph, Ting-Uei Lee, Sophie Sachs, Jonathan Tan, Crystal Wang, Shuwei Zhang, Sam Butler, John Stafford.

Project Stats: Design time: 2 weeks. Build time: 2 weeks. Material: 9mm Grade CD structural plywood and glass-fibre reinforced polymer. Parts: 710 (454 unique).

Acknowledgements: Centre for Future Timber Structures; ARC DECRA Award #DE160100289; Music: Vanished by Richard Lacy/Marc Hoad.

Further Information:

• Gattas, J. M., Alqaryouti, Y., Lee, T.U., and Baber, K. (2017). Rapid assembly with bending-stabilised structures. In Fabricate 2017, pp. 50–57. UCL Press. DOI: 10.14324/111.9781787350014.
• Al-Qaryouti, Y., Baber, K., and Gattas, J. M. (2019). Computational design and digital fabrication of folded timber sandwich structures. Automation in Construction, 102, pp. 27–44. DOI: 10.1016/j.autcon.2019.01.008