DEVELOPING THE MLJ: A VARIABLE AND SCALABLE ALTERNATIVE TO CONVENTIONAL BENT WOOD LAMINATION FORMWORKS
Research Poster Engineering 2025 Graduate ExhibitionPresentation by Esmael Maalej
Exhibition Number 20
Abstract
As wood construction comes back into focus as the renewable architectural material of choice in the first half of the 21st Century, an assessment of existing tools, technologies, and methods is in order. Wood lamination is a centuries-old practice found in everything from ancient chariots to furniture. Bent wood lamination is equally common, found in iconic designed objects, furniture, and in sustainable wooden architecture. Recent architectural projects like Shigeru Ban’s massive Swatch Omega facility in Switzerland, and Marks Barfield Architects’ Cambridge Mosque in England, feature the innovative use of bent wood as a sustainable structural material – one that is simultaneously lyrical in form and delightfully ornamental. The research focuses on the development of an alternative bent wood lamination methodology that extends bent wood laminations beyond the limitations of single-use two-part molds found in traditional lamination construction. This alternative methodology is explored through the form of a jig with the ability to produce a variety of wooden geometries or “bent lines”. The work demonstrates both variability and scale-ability by utilizing the jig’s modularity to create various reconfigurable operations predetermined through an inherent systemslogic, one designed to produce a great variety of possible results.
Importance
The research conducted is significant through its objective in developing accessible and reconfigurable options for bent wood lamination construction. This helps to bridge the gap between expensive robotic machineries and the scale of the individual woodworker and presents a tool for learning and exploring bent lamination as a technique for fabrication.