SkilledIn Office
Within the Innovation Dock in Rotterdam the first robotically fabricated building of the Netherlands has been produced by Studio RAP. The entire building process, the design, the engineering, production and construction of this special building.
Studio RAP completes "first robotically fabricated building in the Netherlands"
november 2015, dezeen
Robotarchitectuur van Studio RAP
june 2016, Architectuur NL
Location RDM Innovation Dock, Rotterdam, NL
Year 2016
Client Port of Rotterdam
Contractor/ Engineering/ Fabrication Studio RAP
Structural design Raadschelders
Material supplier Metsawood
Status Completed
Studio RAP completes "first robotically fabricated building in the Netherlands"
november 2015, dezeen
Robotarchitectuur van Studio RAP
june 2016, Architectuur NL
Location RDM Innovation Dock, Rotterdam, NL
Year 2016
Client Port of Rotterdam
Contractor/ Engineering/ Fabrication Studio RAP
Structural design Raadschelders
Material supplier Metsawood
Status Completed
Architectural design
The building that covers 130 square metres, consists of an office, presentation space and a training centre. These spaces are covered by a large vault consisting of 225 unique wooden panels which spans over 8 metres. The vault rises up in a spectacular way from a central column that gradually blends into the roof construction in one smooth motion.
Even the 3.200 Rothoblaas screws were pre-drilled robotically based on a parametric model of the final design. It’s the first project which shows the scalability of industrial robotic fabrication towards an architectural scale.
The building that covers 130 square metres, consists of an office, presentation space and a training centre. These spaces are covered by a large vault consisting of 225 unique wooden panels which spans over 8 metres. The vault rises up in a spectacular way from a central column that gradually blends into the roof construction in one smooth motion.
Even the 3.200 Rothoblaas screws were pre-drilled robotically based on a parametric model of the final design. It’s the first project which shows the scalability of industrial robotic fabrication towards an architectural scale.
Form finding & digital fabrication
The unique shape of the vault is distilled out of digital form-finding methods. This optimisation results in a compression-only roof structure. Afterwards the doubly-curved shape was translated to triangular wooden panels which are connected by finger joints and a screw connection.
The large quantity of instructions required for the robotic fabrication process were extracted directly from the digital model. In this way it was possible to prepare complex operations, like milling the undulating angled edges of the panels and the pre-drilling of the angled holes for the screw connections, for all the elements in a short period of time.
The unique shape of the vault is distilled out of digital form-finding methods. This optimisation results in a compression-only roof structure. Afterwards the doubly-curved shape was translated to triangular wooden panels which are connected by finger joints and a screw connection.
The large quantity of instructions required for the robotic fabrication process were extracted directly from the digital model. In this way it was possible to prepare complex operations, like milling the undulating angled edges of the panels and the pre-drilling of the angled holes for the screw connections, for all the elements in a short period of time.
Vision
The design and the construction approach for the building are closely related to the vision of the innovative studio. They embrace the role of the contemporary, digital master builder. Integrating new developments concerning design and fabrication technologies, RAP designs and produces smart, sustainable buildings with a unique architectural expression.
The design and the construction approach for the building are closely related to the vision of the innovative studio. They embrace the role of the contemporary, digital master builder. Integrating new developments concerning design and fabrication technologies, RAP designs and produces smart, sustainable buildings with a unique architectural expression.
