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This chapter describes a research thread at CITA which explores how computation and a challenging of traditional material practice can impact the use of timber in architectural design and fabrication. Several past research projects at CITA have demonstrated the potential for streamlining the design-to-production process using computational tools, and the value of working in concert with the inherent properties of wood. Current research continues this thread through a participation in the Innochain research network (http://innochain.net/) and collaboration with industrial partners White Arkitekter AB and Blumer-Lehmann AG. Through the embedding of digital tools within established timber design a fabrication processes, new workflows are proposed which could lead to more intelligent design decisions, optimized building components, and new timber morphologies.

Architectural ornament, the art of decorative patterning, is commonly perceived as an historical characteristic which declined in the beginning of the 20th century. The lecture of Adolf Loos in 1908 “Ornament and Crime” can certainly be seen as a crucial contribution in the architectural discussion about the exclusion of ornament. Although the modernist emphasis on unadorned form, the upcoming international style and the replacement of craftsmanship by the rise of mass production yielded to a systematic elimination of ornament, we are experiencing its revival in contemporary architecture through experiments using digital technologies. This paper describes our ongoing research and teaching activities in the field of architectural ornamentation, surface modeling and texturing, as well as the related CNC manufacturing processes.

We present blue-c , a new immersive projection and 3D video acquisition environment for virtual design and collaboration. It combines simultaneous acquisition of multiple live video streams with advanced 3D projection technology in a CAVE™-like environment, creating the impression of total immersion. The blue-c portal currently consists of three rectangular projection screens that are built from glass panels containing liquid crystal layers. These screens can be switched from a whitish opaque state (for projection) to a transparent state (for acquisition), which allows the video cameras to "look through" the walls. Our projection technology is based on active stereo using two LCD projectors per screen. The projectors are synchronously shuttered along with the screens, the stereo glasses, active illumination devices, and the acquisition hardware. From multiple video streams, we compute a 3D video representation of the user in real time. The resulting video inlays are integrated into a networked virtual environment. Our design is highly scalable, enabling blue-c to connect to portals with less sophisticated hardware.

New digital technologies are challenging the traditions of the architectural design methodology, the relationship between context and design, and the dependency on skilled workmanship for the fabrication of beautiful and complex architecture. Intellectually, applications of digital technologies are also allowing for the reinvestigation, reinterpretation, and redevelopment of historical concepts, theories, and skills[1]. Our focus of ornament in this paper is presented as a constrained architectural testing ground, a reduced issue that still addresses the primary issues of geometry, aesthetics, individualism, and the transferal of design to materiality. Our work on digital ornament combines the traditionally intuitive skills of geometric & graphic manipulations with easily edited input (variables and digital images), control through parametric programming, and automated output (CNC manufacturing). The combination of these processes allows for efficient diversity and uniqueness of design, while also compensating for the increasing cost and declining availability of skilled artisans for the physical fabrication. The presented projects in teaching, research, and professional activities demonstrate our ongoing experiments with new technologies of programmed surface modeling and computer numerically controlled manufacturing (CNC manufacturing). This work has been incorporated in real world projects, both in the revitalization historic buildings, and in new applications of ornament in contemporary architecture.