ABSTRACT
IN EARLIER CHAPTERS, we have seen timber
gridshells used commercially in the construction of roofs,
building enclosures and shelter on relatively large scales.
Timber gridshells offered exciting possibilities with many
high-profile projects such as the Weald and Downland
gridshell (Chapter 3) evidencing the synergies and inter-
disciplinary workings between architecture, structure
and craft. Ateliers, smaller design studios and schools
of architecture continue experimenting to perfect
timber gridshell construction, ideas and techniques on a
different scale. The exhilaration of timber gridshell design
is therefore not limited to architects, engineers and
builders involved in gridshell buildings, but one which is
shared by designers and builders of small-scale gridshells
in an experimental capacity as new ideas are tried, learnt
and shared. Materially, components used in these tests
are not restricted to regular machined timber but include
new developments such as plywood, bamboo and new
engineered timber products (Figures 6.1 (a) and (b)).
