Graduation 2021 | Reusing Waste Wood For an Exterior Wall Element

Reusing waste wood for an exterior wall element by Joost van Eijk, MSc Building Technology from TU Delft Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment

Mentors: Stoutjesdijk, P.M.M. and Hoogenboom, J.J.J.G.

 Using Rhino, Grasshopper and Python, a prototype of the exterior wall element tool was made that bridged the parametric model with a waste wood database and gave the user some insight into the waste wood statistics of the design. Python scripts were used for an efficient selection procedure whereby additional material waste could be minimized in the exterior wall element. With the exterior wall element tool, it is possible to create a national database with waste wood. The sellers of waste wood can be the demolishing companies but also the waste wood processors. A contractor can use the exterior wall element tool online to create an exterior wall element from waste wood. Here the user, in this case the contractor, gives the desired dimensions of the wall, and the tool generates a design of an exterior wall element. Additional information is given about the cost, the amount of wood required and where the wood is located. The contractor can adjust the parameters of the model and choose, for example, the cheapest option or the option where all the wood is closest to the building side. In the end the tool generates a list with 3dm files for every piece of wood that has to be modified. These 3dm files can be used for digital fabrication.

Excepts from Abstract, Joost van Eijk

Final outcome of the graduation project focuses on the use of parametric design to outline the potential reuses of solid waste wood. The author suggests that solid waste wood has the potential to be reused as a building material with shredding and for wall elements.

See TU Delft Repository for Master Thesis outcomes and documents: TU Delft Repository