Wood Chip Barn

In 2015, Design & Make students completed a robotically fabricated Wood Chip Barn. The structure provides 400cu.m of long-term storage for biofuel and will enable the Hooke Park estate to process and use it’s own timber for renewable heat production. The first structure to be erected outside of the educational campus, the barn occupies part of an existing site used for sawmill operations and is envisioned to facilitate an increase in timber processing activity.

The barn’s arching structure is formed from forked beech-tree components directly sourced from the surrounding woodland. The inherent form and structural capacity of the natural tree is transferred and exploited within the truss structure using 3d-scanning techniques and robotic milling to form the connections.

Having surveyed Hooke Park’s beech compartments, a database of potential forked components was established, and from it, the structural concept was developed. Based on the criteria of this structure, 25 forks were harvested from the forest, brought back to the campus and scanned in 3D. An organization script was used to generate a final arrangement of forks in collaboration with engineers from Arup. This digital model was then translated into fabrication information with which Hooke Park’s new robotic arm transformed each fork into a finished component. After being pre-assembled in Hooke Park’s Big Shed, the building’s pieces were assembled on site.

Project Credits

Students: Mohaimeen Islam, Zachary Mollica, Sahil Shah, Swetha Vegesana, Yung-Chen Yang

Tutors: Charley Brentnall, Toby Burgess, Martin Self, Emmanuel Vercruysse

Project coordination & site management: Jack Draper

Robotics developer: Pradeep Devadass

Arup: Francis Archer, Naotaka Minami, Coco van Egeraat