A Wood Frame Grammar: A Generative System for Digital Fabrication

Abstract

A novel design system is presented that generates information for house construction exclusively from 3/4“plywood sheets. A shape grammar routine is employed to subdivide an initial solid shape into constructible components for desktop digital fabrication and design evaluation as a physical model. Once approved final construction can happen with components cut on a CNC wood router after the design has been validated by a laser cut model. Shape grammar rule format is used to design functions that build geometry later converted to a scripting language in CAD. Future goals for the grammar are to develop a complete CAD program that translates 3D designs to 2D drawings for flat digital fabrication. The ultimate goal of the program is to automate the translation of solid models to information for digital fabrication. Currently a manual process the translation allows the designer to focus on the visual aspects of evaluation at any scale with little concern for constructability.