Information-Tool-Technology: Contemporary digital fabrication as

Information-Tool-Technology: Contemporary digital fabrication as part of a continuous development of process technology as illustrated with the example of timber construction.

Christoph Schindler, [email protected]

AbstractTimber construction is a mirror of processing technology through the ages. Because of the ease of the cutting processes involved and its wide accessibility, timber ranks amongst the oldest building materials and was indeed the most economic throughout the pre-Industrial era. In the Industrial era mechanized timber prefabrication almost completely dominated the North American housing stock. Due to today’s excellent workshop infrastructure, with their continuous digital production chains, timberwork can be considered the most modern means of construction in the market in terms of the contemporary ‘information society’. No other construction method more compre-hensively illustrates the relation between processing technology, fabrication methods and architecture.This paper identifies three waves in the evolution of wood processing technology and examines how processing principles influence fabrication methods and the resulting timber architecture. A scheme summarizes the interrelations between those technolo-gies and the respective processing of the three elements in fabrication: energy, mate-rial and information.

1. Premises

The author assumes• that there are three system parameters in every production process;• that three waves of processing technology can be distinguished in the history of the development of timber construction.

1.1. Three system parameters in processing technology

The description of production processes with system parameters is an adaptation of a general knowledge model from system theory to practical implementation. General knowledge models were already common in early cultures. The ancient Greeks di-vided the universe into the four elements of earth, air, fire, and water. Chinese Dao-ism describes nature with the five elements of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth. Both theories encapsulate both material and energy. General system theory, as applied today in interdisciplinary discourse, is a compara-tively recent development. Ludwig von Bertalanffy (1948) introduced the idea of sys-tems as opposed to the isolated examination of singular phenomenon. In his creation

Information-Tool-Technology 1

of ‘cybernetics’ Norbert Wiener (1949) proposed information as a third parameter in addition to energy and matter, stating ‘Information is information, nor matter or en-ergy’.

Figure 1: The work piece is determined by three parameters in the production process.

1.2. Three waves of processing technology

The waves of development in timber construction are divided into three essential production technologies in the history of mankind:

• hand-tool-technology• machine-tool-technology• information-tool-technology

Figure 2: Three successive waves of processing technology: hand-tool-technology, machine-tool-technology and information-tool-technology

These three technologies are related to each other more like ‘waves’ than ‘steps’, as subsequent technological developments do not replace, but rather overlap, amplify and complete each other in a manner analogous to that which Alvin Toffler (1980) describes in his three waves in societal development. In order to establish clear boundaries between the waves of technological develop-ment examined in this paper, the terms hand-tool-technology, machine-tool-technology and information-tool-technology are briefly defined.

information

material

energy

workpiece

production process


1.3. Hand-tool-technology

Hand-tool-technology is the manual processing of material with a tool or implement, powered by physical human exertion. A synonym for hand-tool-technology is ‘handi-craft’. Within the context of this paper, 'hand-tool-technology' is defined as follows: 'Hand-tool-technology' is the use of energy, material and information processing by a human hand-tool operator. The design of the tool is the crucial intellectual perform-ance.

1.4. Machine-tool-technology

Machine-tool-technology is introduced in this paper as the technological concept of the social process of mechanization, which describes the use of machines to replace physical labor. Machine-tool-technology is a counterpart to hand-tool-technology. Both terms originate from the writings of Akos Paulinyi (1978, 1989), who defines a machine tool as the substitution of two manual processes with a machine: in his own words ‘the assignment of the functions of fixing and guiding of the material as well as the tool from man to a technical device’. In contrast to Paulinyi, for whom the origin of the energy harnessed is not crucial, this paper builds up a scheme from the different ways of processing energy, material and information. This shift places far greater importance on the interconnection with the power machine (transmitting a stage of energy such as the thermal or kinetic to mechanical energy) for the understanding of mechanization and machine-tool-technology than in Paulinyi’s distinction between mechanism and machine tool.The author understands 'machine-tool-technology' as follows:'Machine-tool-technology' is the use of energy and material processing by a machine to substitute repetitive physical human operations, while a human machine-tool op-erator processes information. The design of the interconnection of power machine and machine tool is the crucial intellectual performance.

1.5. Information-tool-technology

Information-tool-technology is a new term coined by the author in this paper. Information-tool-technology means the technological concept of the social process of automation, which describes the use of machines to replace both physical and intel-lectual labor. While some authors have understood automation as a social process (Klaus and Liebscher 1976), Thomas Böhm and Siegfried Dorn (1988) in their ‘fun-damentals of defining the automation term’ describe a premise that is crucial to this paper to establish a boundary between mechanization and automation, namely that ‘In the production process, the unity of energy, material and information is ap-plied...’. The thrust of this paper is expressed even more fittingly in Günter Ropohl’s


description (1991) of flexible fabrication systems as the function ‘to transform mate-rial and information flow with help of energy flow in a way that impresses informa-tion to the material’.The term information-tool-technology is therefore conceived of as an extension to Paulinyi’s juxtaposition ‘hand-tool-technology / machine-tool-technology’, whilst simultaneously literally describing the meaning of Computer Aided Manufacturing (CAM). In understanding a tool as a piece of equipment which provides a mechanical advantage in accomplishing a physical task, an information tool is analogically re-lated to a hand tool and to Paulinyi's machine tool. The introduction of the terms of-fers the possibility to comprehend today’s digital manufacturing processes as part of a continuous historical development in technologies.The author defines ' information-tool-technology' as follows: 'Information-Tool-Technology' is the use of energy, material and information process-ing by a machine to substitute formalized physical and intellectual human opera-tions. The design of the interconnection of power machine, machine tool and infor-mation machine is the crucial intellectual performance.

By outlining a brief history of timber architecture the paper will now examines how these three waves of technological development not only radically reshaped the pro-duction of buildings, but equally their construction and appearance.

2. The first wave: Hand-tool-technology and timber architecture

Since the beginnings of human culture, wood has served as a universal building ma-terial along with stone, metal, ceramics and fibers. It was an omnipresent in building, transport, furniture, tools and fuel. Indeed its position amongst other materials was so dominant until the beginning 19th century that the whole period has in certain con-texts been referred to a ‘wooden age’ (Hindle 1975, Kebabian 1979, Hindle 1981, Radkau and Schäfer 1987).

2.1. Hand tools

The earliest known metal saw for wood processing is a copper saw originating from Egypt from around 2,700 BC. The carpenter’s ax appears at approximately the same time. At the end of the 3rd millennium BC, in the transition from the Copper Age to the Bronze Age, the chisel, the rasp and the bronze hammer appeared (Finsterbusch and Thiele 1987, Goodman 1964).These developments set the agenda until the end of the Middle Ages. The carpenter’s tools, the ax and the saw, were applied in countless variations as universal tools in furniture making, shipbuilding, and building construction, and are still in use nowa-days with surprisingly few alterations. In the 8th century AD the spread of steel fab-


rication changed Europe’s technical and agricultural production significantly. Not only was iron superior to bronze in its uses and applications, but it was also available as iron ore in sufficient quantities for tool fabrication (Finsterbusch and Thiele 1987).Every step of wood processing was accomplished with such hand tools. Trees were felled with hand tools, trimmed with hand tools and fashioned into joining elements with hand tools. Physical exertion was the power for every processing step. All tech-nical inventions of this era (such as winches, levers or cranes) helped to multiply the power of human or animal exertion (Toffler 1980). The quality and the processing speed were determined by the knowledge and skill (dexterity) of the individual or collective human operator, so that the craftsman concurrently processed energy (his physical exertion), material (with a tool operated using his skill) and information (the plan to be realized, if necessary in a recorded scheme).

Figure 3: Joinery signs as systematic logistics for individual parts with hand-tool-technology (Gerner 1994).

Figure 4: Individual dovetail joint in timber frame construction with joinery signs (Gerner 2000).


2.2. Effects of hand-tool-technology on timber production

Joints processed with hand-tool-technology were individually prepared to enable the assembly of two or more adjacent elements, whereby the first element was made by rule of thumb and served as jig that determined the other elements. Peter Benje (2002) suitably describes this process in furniture making as one of ‘drawing-together’. In a manner similar to a jigsaw, only two specific pieces ever matched, meaning that the elements were non-interchangeable. The only guarantee that the elements interlocked accurately as a whole was a full-scale frame rehearsal (Gerner 1994). Moreover, individual natural features of the wood such as crotches or bends were integrated into construction.In timber frame construction a logistical system was used to label the unique parts. To identify the elements clearly for assembly the carpenters labeled them with so-called ‘joinery signs’ (Gerner 1994), for instance with Roman numerals and addi-tional characters, in order to determine the building two or three dimensionally.As the individual elements in hand-tool-technology were non-standardized and al-ways mutually dependent, precise standards for measuring such as the metric system or the meter were neither applied nor needed. The Meter Convention that established the metric standard internationally was not instituted before 1875.

2.3. Effects of hand-tool-technology on timber architecture

Visual judgment in forming the elements, the self-referencing of the elements them-selves, and the integration of natural features constitute the characteristic irregular regularity and seeming randomness in the appearance of timber architecture realized with hand-tool-technology. These qualities are visually most prominent in medieval timber frame buildings, but also in log houses, ceiling constructions and roof trusses.

3. The second wave: Machine-Tool-Technology and timber architecture

3.1. Preparing the second wave: Interconnection of machine tool and power machine

Because wood processing was essentially arduous and time-consuming physical work, the necessity for ease and substitution was great. The first evidence of machine lumber processing is documented well before industrialization in the Portfolio of Vil-lard de Honnecourt in the 13th century. It shows a water-powered hacksaw that con-nected the movement of the saw blade to a mechanical input, already constituting a true machine tool according to Paulinyi’s definition. The next five centuries saw con-tinued refinements in the development of water and wind-driven sawmills, but it was not until the 18th century with the arrangement of parallel saw blades that a first standardization of lumber cutting took place.


Referring back to our system parameters (energy, material and information), the prin-ciple of mechanization had already been realized in that an external source of motive power such as the water wheel or the wind wheel is interconnected with a machine tool. There is a unity of energy and material processing in the machine. However, the machine does not process information. In other words the machine is built for a specific repetitive action and cannot respond to information. The informa-tion about the process remains the preserve of the human operator. Nevertheless man does not perform the work himself, but assumes a new function as the creator of both the machine and the mechanical process, which he simultaneously controls and sur-veys. This means that his role is starting to shift from labor to process design.The interconnection of machine tool and power machine is the principle of mass pro-duction. The separation of information and machine tool is the principle of standardi-zation. Although two principles of industrialization are emerging, the restrictions of water and wind energy and on the stability of wooden machinery (which apart from the saw blade was the material used for every part, including the frame and drive) set clear limits on the sawmill.Two decisive technical innovations in Great Britain enabled industrial mass produc-tion with the interconnection of machine tool and power machine. The first one was the smelting of iron with coke in a furnace by Abraham Darby at the beginning 18th century. By using coke as a fuel, the melting temperature could be reached more eas-ily and at the same time the carbon percentage of the iron ore could be lowered. This operation allowed cost-efficient production of iron for cold and warm forging (roll-ing, pressing). The second invention was an application of the first one and exploited the potential of the new material, namely the development of the steam engine as a universal motor, first heralded as a gradual development by Thomas Newcomen in 1712 and finalized by James Watt in 1782 as a low pressure engine with the double-action piston. Matschoss (1901) writes about the steam engine: ‘All manufacturing machine tools are inanimate mechanisms without the steam engine’. The steam en-gine was the first universal motor using non-renewable fossil fuels and was far less tied to those locations offering renewable energy such as water and wind and there-fore dependent on seasons and weather.

3.2. Effects of machine-tool-technology on production

The interconnection of machine tool and power machine had two basic effects on timber architecture in industrial society: first the processing speed, and second the use of interchangeable parts, including profiles and steel connectors. A third effect, based in combination with advances in the chemical industry, was the manufacture of composite wood board.


3.2.1.Processing speedThe first interconnection of a steam engine with a wood-processing machine was re-alized by Oliver Evans to operate a sawmill Philadelphia in 1802 (Powis Bale 1880). The shift from water to steam power immediately resulted in a doubling of output. From 1850 onwards steam-driven sawmills spread all over Europe and the USA and increased the processing of wood enormously, especially in the USA, where output increased 100% from 1830-40, 350% from 1840-50, and by 50% in each of the fol-lowing decades (Pfamatter 2005). Within a few decades today’s machine tools for wood processing had been invented: in 1777 the buzz saw, in 1808 the band saw, and in 1792 the milling machine (Powis Bale 1880). A last significant boost to production was the subsequent shift from huge central steam engines to small local electric mo-tors.

3.2.2.Interchangeable partsBecause the machine repeated its operation with constant precision, the elements of a production run were identical, making them interchangeable. Vice versa machine production makes the manufacture of individual elements laborious. In the best case scenario the machine had to be adjusted manually to the new requirements, which caused an interruption in production. In the worst case it was simply not possible to manufacture different pieces.Associated with the application of the idea of ‘interchangeable parts’, all in the USA, are Eli Whitney (1798 – publications and attempts to realize the concept in musket production), Cyrus McCormick’s reapers (1850) and at the same time Samuel Colt’s firearms. In timber construction the interchangeable parts idea induced standardiza-tion in profiles, connectors and panels.

3.2.2.1.ProfilesStandardization of construction initially involved the elements (especially 2 x 4" pro-files and their multiples) and later also modular grids for panels and integrated com-ponent assemblies (2' in the USA, 62.5cm in Europe).

3.2.2.2.ConnectorsFor several reasons the manually crafted wood joint was inadequate for industrialized timber construction. First, cross-section optimization with modern calculation meth-ods did not tolerate weakening the section with a carpenter’s wood joint. Second, new building types with large spans required connectors that exceeded the structural possibilities of wooden joints. Third, it was barely possible to mechanize the complex processing of a wood joint.Therefore industrially fabricated steel connectors gradually replaced wooden joints in timber construction. Steel connectors can roughly be grouped under nails (mecha-


nized production by J. Pierson in New York, 1794), bolts and washers (Bulldog washer by Ole Theordorsen in Norway, 1920), and sheet metal products such as the joist hanger (1914-1918) (US National Committee on Wood Utilization 1933). For the first time a constructive distinction between bars and nodes was established.

3.2.2.3.Composite wood boardComposite wood, also known as engineered wood, includes a range of derivative wood products which are manufactured by binding together sawed (glued laminated timber), peeled (veneer, plywood), particled (OSB, wafer board, chipboard) or fibered (MDF) wood with adhesives to form composite materials. The advantage of composite wood is its homogeneity. Within the framework of this paper it is espe-cially interesting to note that composite wood board more consequentially enabled the realization of the idea of interchangeable parts than lumber. While the sawmill made it possible to cut natural wood into boards with identical dimensions, those boards were determined by the natural growth of the tree and were therefore still in-dividual in character and performance.The history of composite wood board for outdoor use did not start until the 1930s with the development of water-resistant phenol-formaldehyde resins (Cohn-Wegner 1930).

3.3. Effects of machine-tool-technology on timber architecture

Roughly speaking, the two major new developments in timber architecture in indus-trial society were timber engineering and prefabricated housing. Both developments are symptomatic for the developments in processing technology described above. Timber engineering uses the high load bearing capacities of steel connectors and composite wood (glued laminated timber) to maximize the span width and minimize the cross-section. Therefore prefabricated housing can be regarded as the sum of de-velopments in mechanized timber production. Simultaneously it makes use of in-creased processing speed and of interchangeable parts (profiles, steel connectors and wood composite panels). As a genuine mass product the prefabricated house is an architectural symbol of industrialization and is therefore examined in more detail be-low.

3.3.1.The balloon frame and the acceleration of settlementThe success of the balloon frame and the western frame (or platform frame) in the 19th century was caused by the rapid growth of Chicago and the settlement history of the American Midwest. The balloon frame was first adapted in 1832 by Augustine D Taylor. Like the western frame it consists of standardized 2x4 inch laths that, rein-forced with horizontal beams, form a frame braced by a horizontal cladding. The re-duction to one essential profile for wall and roof construction makes logistic planning


unnecessary. Due to the machine processing of lumber it was possible to fabricate all of the profiles identically (interchangeable parts); due to the processing speed in the sawmill the material was available to an almost unlimited extent; and due to the rig-orous use of nailed connections there was no need for laboriously handcrafted joints. This system enabled Chicago’s saw mills to supply and erect the city of Cheyenne in Wyoming with 3,000 balloon frame houses in 1876 in the space of just three month (Junghanns 1994).

Figure 5: One profile, no details: platform frame construction around 1850 (Kelly 1951).

3.3.2.Wood frame panel systems and the prefabricated house as an industrial productThe universal application of the wood frame panel, itself an advancement of the bal-loon frame / platform frame, was made possible with the application of phenolic resin-bound and water-resistant composite wood panels. A wood frame panel con-struction consists of a floor-to-ceiling composite panel onto which the profiles of the frame are glued or nailed. The composite panel acts as a platform, making it possible to prefabricate wall-sized or room-sized elements in climatized production halls un-der optimal working conditions. This had the effect of significantly reducing the as-sembly time on the construction site. Konrad Wachsmann (1959) stated that with his ‘general panel system’ five unskilled workers could erect a house, including installa-tions, in a single day. In 1951 Burnham Kelly published a survey study of the prefab market at MIT in collaboration with 130 different manufacturers that showed the ex-tent of the spread of composite wood and wood frame panel systems over the previ-ous two decades. Of 33 commercially available prefab systems in 1935, 22 used steel, eight used concrete, and only three wood (9%). By the time of the study was


conducted in 1947/48, 92 of the 125 manufacturers used wood (74%) and 61 of those 92 used plywood (48%). It is remarkable that the upsurge of wood and plywood use coincided with the development of water-resistant resins. Furthermore, Kelly noted a trend ‘towards large panels, which avoid seam and joint problems by maintaining continuity of surface, and simplify structure through a fusion of skeleton and skin’. The development of the industrial production of composite wood panels set a trend in timber architecture that extended from mounting bars (timber frame, balloon frame) to mounting panels (wood frame panel).While in balloon frame housing the construction module was the 2x4'' profile, the wood frame panel module was based on a 2'' or larger grid. Consequently the layout of the prefab house was far more determined by the grid of modular construction than the balloon frame.

Figure 6: The house on the assembly line: panel production at the Gunnision plant in the USA (Kelly 1951).

4. The third wave: information-tool-technology and timber architecture

4.1. Preparing the third wave: interconnection of information, machine tool and power machine

While the interconnection of machine tool and power machine in wood construction began early in comparison with other manufacturing sectors, the interconnection of energy, material and information processing started rather late. Preparation for the third wave did not occur with wood processing machines. According to the definition offered in this paper, the first information tool was the mechanical loom invented by Joseph Marie Jacquard in France in 1801 that used punched cards to control a sequence of operations. The ability to change the pattern of the loom’s weave by simply changing cards makes it the first machine with ex-changeable data storage in manufacturing.


The Jacquard loom was revolutionary. For the first time a machine processed energy (initially steam, later electricity), material (woolen thread) and information (punched cards). Man is involved neither as an energy source, nor as material or information processor, but initializes and controls the process. Man becomes the creator of the process while the machine is the creator of the products.The principle of flexible manufacturing with exchangeable data storage was limited to textile manufacturing for a long time. This was due to the fact that the information stored on punch cards is built up of points, lines and columns. The information on the punch card is read directly by the tool without an intermediate interpretive step. The linear chain of commands that is characteristic for machine code is difficult to realize on a punch card. This means that the punch card is a data storage system suitable for pattern production and should in fact be viewed as an ancestor of the digital pixel im-age (Schneider 2007).

The transistor: electronic data processingElectronic data processing is in principle not different to data processing based on mechanic, hydraulic, pneumatic, or electro-mechanic systems. There is, however, one major difference. Electronic data processing has the physical possibility of process-ing many circuit switchings and computing operations in fractions of a second within a minimal space and at comparatively low costs. The key element in this new archi-tecture of integrated circuits and microprocessors is the transistor. William Shockley developed the first efficient transistor in 1947 at the US Bell Laboratories; in 1958 Jack Kilby started to cast integral circuits into a germanium ‘microchip’; and in 1970 IBM produced the first silicon ‘microprocessor chip’. From this point onwards the agenda was set to produce computers small and low priced enough to be built into machines to automate complex formalized processes economically.

The Winchester Drive: electronic data storageIn 1973 IBM managed to build a data storage as a small sealed disk drive, named the ‘Winchester drive’ after the Winchester 30/30 rifle because the drive had 30MB of fixed storage and 30MB of removable storage. As Barrett (2006) notes: ‘Perhaps even more than the silicon-chip microprocessor, the Winchester drive is responsible for the way in which computers gradually came to be small and cheap enough to be used at home.’

4.2. Effects of information-tool-technology on production

NC and CNC machines in wood processingIn 1948 John Parsons of MIT developed a computer-supported calculation to accu-rately calculate the complicated three-dimensional interpolation of the curves defin-


ing helicopter blades. It was only after servos were also steered by computers in 1952 that real ‘numerical control’ was realized. In the 1960s NC machines with punched card control were widely in use. In the 1970s, concurrently with the invention of the microprocessor, CNC machines were introduced in almost every branch of industry, including the wood industry. CNC milling machines for processing wooden panels, themselves adaptations from aircraft and vehicle construction, date from the late 1960s. Nevertheless the development of automated joinery machines for processing wooden bars did not start until 1982 (Grau 2002). On the one hand information-tool-technology offered and still offers great potential to optimize industrial production. On the other hand information-tool-technology has also opened the way to new potential.

4.2.1.UniversalityThe universality of NC-code creates universal machines that can fully perform multi-ple functions. Both milling machines and joinery machines work with tool changers and can be fitted with a large variety of tools such as milling bits, drills, and saw blades.

4.2.2.Automated positioningIn his 1951 MIT survey study of American prefabricators Kelly described the use of wooden and metallic jigs as a ‘distinguishing feature of almost every factory produc-ing wood panels …’. Even in industrial production, the position of joints and connec-tors was not automatically determined, as this information was not part of the pro-duction processes. Despite mechanization an element was drawn by hand twice – once with ink on paper and once with the carpenter’s pencil for marking on the ele-ment itself.With the interconnection of information and material processing, the machine exe-cutes a plan directly. The production step of marking is skipped, as the information (NC punch card or CNC electronic g-code) contains the positioning. Jigs become un-necessary. Automatic positioning quickens the production process independently of the elements being standard or individual. To this extent automatic positioning is a computer-aided optimization of an industrial process.

4.2.3.Formalized flexibilityThe most prominent attribute of CNC information-tool-technology is so-called ‘one-of-a-kind-production’. The driving force in the development of automated joinery machines was production flexibility. It no longer influences the processing speed whether hundreds of similar or hundreds of different parts are trimmed. The auto-mated production of individual parts moves away from interchangeable parts towards the individual joint. It therefore appears that the principles of interchangeable parts


and individual parts are more bound to the interconnection or separation of informa-tion and material processing than to production by hand or machine.The kind of flexibility offered by hand-tool-technology, machine-tool-technology and information-tool-technology differs. In hand-tool-technology the only restrictions on processing are the material dimensions and the tool geometries, maximizing flexibil-ity. In machine-tool-technology flexibility is restricted to a repetitive process, poten-tially alterable by readjusting the machine parameters manually. In a gang saw, for instance, the only selectable parameter is board length. Information-tool-technology would appear entirely flexible at first glance, but is in fact limited by machine tool-specific (machine dimensions, tool geometries) and information-specific attributes. G-code for instance, standard for most milling machines, consists of a sequence of given commands. Any given shape to be manufactured has to be described with those commands. In other words free forms (splines, nurbs) have to be reduced into poly-gons because no command exists for them. Code for automated joinery machines is even more restrictive, consisting of a sequence of macros for typical details (e.g. dovetails) that are described in parameters. Therefore flexibility in information-tool-technology ranges from formalization to parametric standardization.

4.2.4.Multifunctional data set: logisticsLogistics are directly related to flexible production. As soon as the parts of a building are no longer identical they have to be labeled to guarantee that they can be identi-fied, transported at the right time to the right place, and fitted in the right position. Where they were previously manually applied, joinery marks are now executed using information-tool-technology. The data set describing a structure is multifunctional – it not only feeds the wood processing machine, but can be used for the labeling ma-chines as well, either by carving the numbers with the same wood tool or by control-ling another small computer-aided machine that prints numbers directly onto the wood or on stickers.

Figure 7: From the same dataset the joinery machine manufactures the elements, the labeler prints the markings and the color printer produces a packing plan including delivery location.

4.2.5.Complexity

fabrication

labeling

lists

data


The second essential attribute of CNC information-tool-technology is the high degree of complexity of possible machine movements. The spectrum of movements of an electronically controlled machine far exceeds the potential of mechanized control. This on the one hand because purely mechanical elements cannot twist and turn arbi-trarily, and on the other because a complex movement needs more information than is transmittable mechanically within an adequate timeframe. With information-tool-technology almost any movement, from simple three-axis milling machines to six-axis robot arms, can be performed in any combination.

4.3. Effects of information-tool-technology on timber architecture

While the extent to which machine-tool-technology formed two major branches of timber architecture (i.e. timber engineering and mass housing) are in retrospect clear, the effects of information-tool-technology on timber architecture, whilst undoubtedly omnipresent, have still yet to be fully exploited and followed through. Nevertheless the following developments are clearly discernable.

4.3.1.Obsolescence of the gridFlexible production is not dependent on the modular grid of interchangeable parts. Consequently it is becoming evident in wood frame panel construction that the grids introduced by machine-tool-technology are losing both their relevance and presence. In con-temporary wood frame panel construction it is irrelevant whether an element is adapted to a grid or not. The accuracy of the element’s fit is guaranteed by tool precision, and its positioning is determined by its label. Ludger Hovestadt (2006) speaks of a ‘paradigm change’ that alters the order of system and design from ‘sys-tem > design’ to ‘design > system’. Buildings are designed without grids and the elements are subsequently adjusted to the overall architectural shape.

4.3.2.Panelization of the constructionAs Andrea Deplazes (2005) points out, the panel has now substituted the bar as basic element of today’s timber architecture. The panel is expandable in any surface di-mension, offering a greater potential for flexible construction than the bar. The most rigorous application of ‘panelization’ as a construction method can be seen in recent wooden ‘solid construction’ with load-bearing panels of nailed or glued cross-layered boards. The wall-sized elements are adjusted to the floor plan and no longer vice versa. The grid is not merely transmuted; it has been fully dispensed with. Windows and doors are simply CNC-cut as holes at any position into the panels.


Figure 8: ‘Panelized’ construction without grids

4.3.3.Enhancement of the jointWhile machine-tool-technology replaced the wooden joint with the steel connector, information-tool-technology has re-introduced it with more potential and relevance than ever. The CNC production of a wooden detail is simultaneously both a manufac-turing process and a marking (especially on the automated joinery machine). Where a wooden detail is applied, no further marking for defining the position its adjacent parts is needed, meaning that two production steps become one. This seems to be the main reason for the revival of the wooden joint in timber architecture.The detail most prominently used for this double function of marking and joining is the dovetail, as manufactured on automated joinery machines. A construction using such dovetail joints makes use of positioning (the tool automatically positions itself according to digital information), labeling (using an automated labeling machine), flexibility (the dovetail is described by parameters) and complexity (5-axis-manufacturing exceeds manual possibilities).

Figure 9: Contemporary CNC-joints manufactured by automated joinery machine (courtesy of Hundegger GmbH).


5. Conclusions

This survey of the changing relations between energy, material, and information, and their effects on timber production and architecture allows the following set of conclu-sions.

5.1. A shift to process designAs defined in this paper, the terms hand-tool-technology, machine-tool-technology, and information-tool-technology allow an understanding of the history of processing technology as a continuous development, characterized only by the connections and separations between their three system parameters (information, material and en-ergy). To this extent the three ‘waves’ of technology are not to be understood as com-peting, incompatible principles, but rather as the gradual substitution of formalized physical and later also formalized intellectual operations by machines. Man is not replaced, but revalued. His function shifts from processor to process designer. In to-day’s information-tool-technology man focuses on the challenging task of coordinat-ing the automated processing of three system parameters.

Figure 10: Energy, material and information: today's digital manufacturing processes as part of a continuous development of technologies in the history of mankind.

5.2. Transformation of symbol use in labelingThe three waves of processing technology differ in the use of symbols for labeling.In hand-tool-technology joinery signs simply identify an element. Symbols are not related to any of the properties of the element, for instance its dimensions. Therefore

process design

man

machine

material

energy

information

material

energy

information

material

energy

process design

process hand-tool-

technology

machine-tool-

technology

information-

tool-technology


it is irrelevant whether Roman or Arab numerals are applied. The use of symbols re-mains descriptive.In machine-tool-technology there is no individual identification because all elements are identical. The symbols describe the exact dimensions and material properties ac-cording to norms. The use of symbols is normative.Information-tool-technology is characterized by an operative use of symbols, defined as the ‘schematic, unambiguous handling of written signs’ (Krämer 1988). The label-ing used in both hand-tool-technology (position of the element in the building and relation to adjoining elements) and machine-tool-technology (dimensions) is proc-essed. The information is neither description nor norm, but the result of algorithmic operations.

Figure 11: Different use of symbols in the three waves of technology

5.3. Densification of informationSimultaneously, the amount of information necessary to define an element increases from hand-tool-technology to information-tool-technology. In hand-tool-technology an element is defined by its endpoints. Machine-tool-technology decribes an element with the endpoints of its volume, corresponding to normed dimensions. In information-tool-technology the amount of coordinates used for the definition of an element increases significantly. In order to be processed electronically, complex de-tails (e.g. the dovetail) have to be described in a large set of coordinates or parame-ters.

hand-tool-technology:descriptive use of symbols

machine-tool-technology:normative use of symbols

information-tool-technology:operative use of symbols


hand-tool-technology machine-tool-technology information-tool-technology

Figure 12: Densification of information

5.4. Three kinds of knowledgeThe knowledge needed for making use of contemporary technology in architecture has broadened and diversified. The key knowledge to perform hand-tool-technology was a thorough understanding of the characteristics and treatment of material. The architecture of machine-tool-technology construction requires an additional familiar with the standardized products offered by the market, in the case of timber architec-ture the profiles, panels, and connectors. Today’s information-tool-technology again requires knowledge of automated information and material processing with the corre-sponding machines (computers, CNC-machinery). Due to the fact that the three waves of technological development do not replace but complete each other, contem-porary architecture is about skillfully combining these three kinds of knowledge.

Figure 13: Three kinds of knowledge

material knowledge

product knowledge

process knowledge

hand-tool-technology machine-tool-technology information-tool-technology


6. References

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W. L. Goodman, The History of Woodworking Tools (London: Bell, 1964)

Brooke Hindle, America's Wooden Age: Aspects of its Early Technology (Sleepy Hollow Restaurations: Tarrytown N.Y., 1975)

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Ludger Hovestadt, ‘Strategien zur Überwindung des Rasters’ in archithese, 4 (2006)

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Franz Reuleaux, Lehrbuch der Kinematik, 2 Volumes (Braunschweig: Vieweg, 1875)

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Alvin Toffler, The Third Wave (Toronto: Bantam Books, 1980)

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Konrad Wachsmann, Wendepunkt im Bauen (Wiesbaden: Krausskopf Verlag, 1959)

Norbert Wiener, Cybernetics, or Control and Communication in the Animal and the Machine (New York: MIT Technology Press, 1949

Non-English excerpts translated by the author.


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