STF#8 - 2023: Presentations
Adaptive Digital-Physical Workflows in Wood
Xylotek
Xylotek specialises in the technical design, fabrication and construction of non-standard timber structures. The variant qualities of wood as a natural material demand adaptive workflows that weave between digital and physical modelling, simulation, mock-ups, testing and the anticipation of on-site processes. Only by careful iteration and calibration between the digital representation and the complex physical reality can the necessary aspects of wood’s complex behaviour be understood. Through a series of case-study projects, Martin will discuss how particular design workflows were deployed for projects using different formats of wood – from steam-bent green ash to large-scale demountable cross-laminated-timber panels.
Martin Self is co-founder and Design Director of Xylotek, a growing firm of 35-people based in the UK and delivering internationally on high-profile timber structures – practising as consultants from early design stages, then as designer-builders through to completed installation. Martin is an engineer, geometer and educator who has specialised in innovative timber structures since 2005. Following a background in aerospace engineering, he was a founder member of Arup’s Advanced Geometry Unit (2000-2006) and Director of Hooke Park (2010-2018), the Architectural Association’s woodland campus for experimental timber architecture, where he led the design and construction of a series of timber buildings at Hooke Park that radically explore the use of locally grown wood.