Rarely is a tower or wooden structure capable of forming such a spiral. All thanks to a very special wood processing technique by German re...
Rarely is a tower or wooden structure capable of forming such a spiral. All thanks to a very special wood processing technique by German researchers.
Air humidity is usually carved in wood, especially when used for construction purposes. The cause of moisture will make wood more prone to cracking and warping after drying. The structure of wood also makes this material difficult to apply to build structural integrity structures.
However, a group of researchers in Germany was able to do this when successfully building a spiral tower and made entirely of wood.
To make this tower named Urbach, the team removed the moisture content of the wood by drying wood in a kiln or heater. Of course, the removal of moisture in the wood by temperature can cause it to deform but in the long run, its stability is significantly increased.
According to the research team at the Institute of Design and Construction calculated at Stuttgart University, Germany. At the same time, the owner of the idea of the tower is trying to discover more ways to "program" the wood that can be transformed into the desired shape. It is like how people program robots to move according to specific movements.
Dr. Dylan Wood explains: "By digitally modeling the distortions that occur during the drying process, we can arrange wood before drying to produce specific deformations. Specifically, they are I made two-sided wood panels while the wood still had a high relative humidity, the boards were dried using the industrial drying process, and the thickness and humidity changes during drying were parameters can affect the curvature of wood ".
It is known that the Urbach tower is the first structure in the world to use naturally shaped parts. Initially they used two layers of wood with 22% humidity. Then they dried until the moisture content in the wood was only 12% and enough to meet the construction standards. At the end of the drying and bending process, the two layers are stacked and glued.
Laminated plywood sheets are then transported by truck to Remstal Gartenschau 2019. A garden exhibition in the city of Schorndorf in Germany. Here, a group of four workers assembled plywood panels into a 14-meter-high tower. In which the roof and lower body are made open.
Surrounding the house is protected with pine wood and equipped with humidity monitoring sensors to detect warping phenomenon early.
Although Wood and his colleagues used the Sitka Spruce wood planks originally from Switzerland. But according to him, theoretically all types of wood can be made because the tower has all properties shrink and expand.
The Urbach tower is evidence of a form of self-shaped architecture and turning wood into an attractive material in many future projects and buildings.
Wood is not only durable on par with concrete or steel. It also allows us to change its shape as desired. That reduces the cost of machinery and labor. In the future these laminated plywood pieces could be the most viable option when building load-bearing locations on walls or long roof structures. Even according to Wood, this wood processing technology can turn wood into a versatile material, beyond the construction framework.
The team is continuing to learn how to use wood and incorporate 3D printing technology. They expect to be able to apply this technology in building facades, roofs to make clothes that can escape when you sweat and seal them when you feel cold.
Some pictures of wooden towers:
Reference from Newatlas
Ms. Phoenix
