ABSTRACT
We explored tooled sheet metal for its structural potential in architecture, as in the recently designed gatehouse in Stuttgart/Ditzingen, Germany (2007, figure 8.1). A new CNC-cut façade for the Trutec Building in Seoul, Korea (2007) marks the digital fabrication technology as globally accessible, economical, and viable (figure 8.2). Applied to the roof of a campus cantina, also in Stuttgart (expected completion 2008), CNC cutting was used to shape sustainable fast-growth wood glue-laminated sections into complex structural forms (figure 8.3). As these projects demonstrate, fabrication components no longer simply “accessorize” construction, they now contribute to essential structural and cladding systems.
