SOM Explores Robotically-Fabricated Timber Construction

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has collaborated with University of Michigan Taubman College to create the SPLAM [SPatial LAMinated timber], a robotically-fabricated timber pavilion for the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial.
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Published - Wednesday, 22 Sep, 2021

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has collaborated with University of Michigan Taubman College to create the SPLAM [SPatial LAMinated timber], a robotically-fabricated timber pavilion for the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial. The pavilion employs prefabricated framing panels manufactured using robotic technology, and will serve as an open-air education facility and gathering space for a school in Chicago. The pavilion was inaugurated on September 17, with the opening of the Chicago Biennial, and will remain on display until December 18th. The team, which is led by professors Tsz Yan Ng and Wes McGee, chose to highlight timber and its benefits in construction due to its sustainable qualities. The pavilion is a single-storey prototype that uses spatial-laminated timber (SLT), a material that optimizes traditional framing systems and is often used in mid-rise fire-resistant structures. SLT is lighter in weight and can reduce timber consumption by 46% compared to the usage of conventional timber panels. The beams are joined using interlocking timber joints, which uses shorter and salvaged pieces. Weaving together timber beams like threads in fabric, SPLAM explores the idea of using smaller pieces of wood than conventional mass timber construction systems. Doing so means that the wood can be sourced from more rapidly renewable forests, or, in theory, even from the salvaged components of de-constructed buildings. -- Scott Duncan, SOM Design Partner