Gramazio Kohler Research

compas_timber is a user-friendly open-source software toolkit to streamline the design of timber frame structures. Despite its advancements in digitalization compared to other building techniques, timber construction is often perceived as challenging, involving intricate design, planning, coordination, and fabrication processes. We aim to increase the use of timber in architecture by lowering the threshold of creating versatile and resource-aware designs.

compas_timber is an open-source library written in Python and integrated within the COMPAS framework ecosystem. It provides an implementation for Rhino as a Grasshopper plug-in, which we employ in teaching design studios for master students in architecture. At the current stage, the library encompasses tools for the fast and intuitive design of timber frame structures with simple joints. It offers a parametric data model composed of beams, joints, and assembly entities to describe semantic information about the structure. As we look forward, we envision expanding the toolkit to include interfaces to structural analysis software and specialist timber construction software, assembly sequencing methods, fabricability checking tools and more.

To find out more, see compas_timber documentation and source code.

Credits:

Gramazio Kohler Research, ETH Zurich

Collaborators: Dr. Aleksandra Anna Apolinarska, Chen Kasirer, Gonzalo Casas


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