CoDeFa: Collaborative Design of Prefabricated Façade Systems, Research, Design Preis Schweiz 21
Nominee | Research | 2021

CoDeFa: Collab­o­ra­tive Design of Prefab­ri­cated Façade Systems

The design of building facades is one of the tasks to which especially ambitious architects like to devote themselves. However, efforts to find individual solutions beyond the standard are often doomed to failure due to high or unpredictable construction costs. This should not be the case. A design tool that on the one hand enables individual solutions and on the other hand determines the associated production effort, or in other words: that combines creation and production, would certainly be helpful in such a situation. The development of such a tool was the focus of the 2019/20 joint research project CoDeFa (Collaborative Design of Prefabricated Facade Systems), in which the Institute of Integrative Design / School of Design and Art FHNW and ERNE AG Holzbau were involved. In collaboration with designers, architects, robotic specialists, and timber constructors, it was possible to link parametric design and robotic - following the established artisans workflow - production to generate individual, prefabricated timber facades. As demonstrated by concrete implementations, such an integrated design and fabrication system enables the rational production of varied, well-finished and at the same time cost-efficient wooden facades. Along the way, the project promotes building with wood, a material known to be particularly sustainable.

Comments of the nominators

The results of this design-driven and in its implementation exemplary cooperative research project are a valuable contribution to the topic of digitalization in the construction industry. The sample solutions presented appear aesthetically and technologically ambitious. They illustrate the potential of digital tools that combine creation and production.

Acad­emic partner:

Insti­tute Inte­gra­tive Design | Master­studio,
FHNW Academy of Art and Design

Edyta Augustynowicz (Project Lead), Maria Smigielska, Daniel Nikles (Archi­tec­tec­tural design, Para­metric process devel­op­ment, Robotic process devel­op­ment)

Ralf Michel, Heinz Wagner
(Advi­sors)

Indus­trial partner:

ERNE AG Holzbau: Thomas Wehrle (Project Manager), Oliver Acker­mann, Heiri Treier, Thomas Reiner (Wood Engi­neering, Wood Manu­fac­turing and Construc­tion, Facade assembly)

co-financed by:

Inno­su­isse

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