Imagine building a skyscraper where the floors are made of smart, interlocking wooden strips instead of heavy concrete. It's like a giant, high-tech LEGO set for buildings that uses AI to figure out the strongest, lightest shape. This makes buildings thinner and much greener without losing the strength of stone.
Multi-storey timber construction is limited by a lack of planning expertise and technical constraints, forcing developers to rely on carbon-intensive reinforced concrete for complex floor slabs.
A modular computational framework for automated design and an AI-based Intelligent Decision Support System for timber slab geometries.
If you are an urban developer dealing with limited plot sizes and strict height limits — this project developed a timber system that is 30% lower in structural height. This allows you to fit more floors into the same building height or increase ceiling space for tenants.
If you are a contractor dealing with high material costs and carbon taxes — this project developed a robotic fabrication method that is 30–60% more material efficient. You can build 140–250% more slab area using the same amount of wood compared to standard systems.
If you are an architect dealing with irregular urban sites that don't fit standard grid layouts — this project developed an AI-based decision support system. It allows for custom, point-supported layouts that provide the same flexibility as reinforced concrete.
The system increases material efficiency by 30–60%, meaning significantly less wood is wasted during construction. Based on available project data, this allows for 140–250% more slab area using the same volume of timber.
Yes, the project uses robotic fabrication and AI-driven design to make the system digitally scalable. This reduces the reliance on scarce skilled manual labor to achieve high construction rates.
Based on available project data, the project is currently in the research and development phase (signed 2024-2027), and specific licensing terms are not yet listed.
The project focuses on achieving performance standards typically only possible with reinforced concrete slabs to ensure safety and usability in multi-storey buildings.
The project period runs from October 2024 to September 2027, suggesting that final validated results will be available by late 2027.
The consortium is purely academic, consisting of 2 universities from Germany and Portugal. With a 0% industry ratio, the project is currently driven by research and computational theory rather than commercial manufacturing, indicating a need for future industrial partnerships to bridge the gap to market.
University of Stuttgart
Contact us to find industrial partners for scaling this timber technology.
