Advanced Option Studio (AOS): From Steel to Timber City - Re-imagining mass timber structural systems
This studio explores new mass timber structural systems for mid-rise buildings (8–12 stories) and investigates the spatial opportunities that emerge.
"Mass Timber and the Scandinavian Effect" - Jennifer Bonner & Hanif Kara (2020).
AOS Catalog Course Description
This studio explores new mass timber structural systems for mid-rise buildings (8–12 stories) and investigates the spatial opportunities that emerge. Using computational structural design techniques to analyze and shape efficient forms, students learn to think beyond the conventional column-beam "grid" of standardized mass timber construction. The studio focuses on developing unconventional structural shapes and systems that respond to programmatic needs while examining digital fabrication methods to translate complex geometries into practical, buildable solutions.