Dylan Wood
Dylan Wood is an Assistant Professor of Architecture at the University of Oregon, with a focus on material responsive computational design and advanced manufacturing. His research and teaching centers on developing intelligent approaches for utilizing ecological resources in new forms of architecture and building construction. These methods explore how computational design enables simple, material effective construction as well as novel geometries and functionality. He is the co-founder of hylo tech, a spin-off company pioneering methods of self-shaping manufacturing across scales. From 2019-2023 Dylan, led the Material Programming Research Group at the Institute for Computational Design and has worked as a designer and digital fabrication expert at Barkow Leibinger Architects in Berlin and DOSU Studio Architecture in Los Angeles. His doctoral research on self-shaping wood manufacturing was conducted in collaboration with ETH Zurich and jointly funded by the Swiss Innovation Agency (InnoSussie), the German Federal Environmental foundation (DBU), and GETTYLAB. His research and design contributions at the University of Stuttgart lead to full scale building technology demonstrators including the Urbach Tower, Wangen Tower, HygroShell, and the LivMats Biomimetic Shell. His interdisciplinary work in design, engineering, science and making has resulted in over 30 peer-reviewed publications and received international recognition.
Research
My current research investigates additive and fiber informed arrangements in wood components, ultra light timber structures, self-shaping deployable wood modules and light touch robotic solutions for onsite construction. I am an active research collaborator with the Tall Wood Design Institute and the College of Engineering at Oregon State University and part of the NSF Engines – Program: Advancing mass timber technologies.
I am building a new lab at UO and currently looking for undergraduate research assistants to work on upcoming resarch projects and fabrication projects! Interested candidates should email a short CV and summary of their work related to wood materials, digital design and or fabrication.
Projects
Robotics for Timber Connections -Developing material- aware robotic processes for machining and insertion of
prefabricated connections in mass timber, Agricultural Research Service, USDA - TDI (PI)
Diversifying and utilizing wood material properties in mass timber panels through informed robotic fabrication, Agricultural Research Service, USDA, Developing leadership in the design, manufacture, and construction of buildings using innovative wood product-sub award (PI)
Next generation, flat pack, deployable wood building components, Agricultural Research Service, USDA - TDI (PI)
Enabling design exploration for curved CLT through coupling parametric modeling and structural engineering analysis, Agricultural Research Service, USDA - TDI (Co-PI)
Material Driven Computational Design and Manufacturing for Self-Forming Curved Wood Furniture, FNR -Förderprogramm Nachwachsende Rohstoffe des BMEL (Research Partner)
Self-forming Cylindrical Wood Components for Sustainable Lightweight Structures, Forschungsinitiative Zukunft Bau (BBSR) (Research Partner)
New
Selected Publications
Cheng, T., Tahouni, Y., Sahin, E.S., Ulrich, K., Lajewski, S., Bonten, C., Wood, D., Rühe, J., Speck, T., Menges, A.: 2024, Weather-responsive adaptive shading through biobased and bioinspired hygromorphic 4D-printing. Nature Communications, Vol. 15, p. 10366. (DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-54808-8)
Wood, D., Kiesewetter, L., Körner, A., Takahashi, K., Knippers, J., Menges, A.: 2023, HYGROSHELL – In Situ Self-shaping of Curved Timber Shells. In: Dörfler, K., Knippers, J., Menges, A., Parascho, S., Pottmann, H., Wortmann, T. (Eds.) Advances in Architectural Geometry 2023. De Gruyter, pp. 43–54. (DOI: 10.1515/9783111162683-004)
Opgenorth, N., Cheng, T., Lauer, P.R.A., Stark, T., Tahouni, Y., Treml, S., Göbel, M., Kiesewetter, L., Schlopschnat, C., Zorn, M.B., Yang, X., Amtsberg, F., Wagner, H.J., Wood, D., Sawodny, O., Wortmann, T., Menges, A.: 2024, Multi-scalar computational fabrication and construction of bio-based building envelopes – the livMatS biomimetic shell. In: Fabricate 2024: Creating Resourceful Futures. UCL Press, pp. 22–31. (DOI: 10.2307/jj.11374766.7)
Tahouni, Y., Cheng, T., Lajewski, S., Benz, J. Bonten, C. Wood, D., Menges, A.:2023, Codesign of Biobased Cellulose-Filled Filaments and Mesostructures for 4D Printing Humidity Responsive Smart Structures, 3D Printing and Additive Manufacturing, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. (http://doi.org/10.1089/3dp.2022.0061)
Sahin, E.S., Cheng, T., Wood, D., Tahouni, Y., Poppinga, S., Thielen, M., Speck, T., Menges, A.: 2023, Cross-Sectional 4D-Printing: Upscaling Self-Shaping Structures with Differentiated Material Properties Inspired by the Large-Flowered Butterwort (Pinguicula grandiflora). Biomimetics, vol. 8, no. 2. (DOI: 10.3390/biomimetics8020233)
Wood, D., Cheng, T., Tahouni, Y., Menges, A.: 2023, Material Programming for Bio-inspired and Bio-based Hygromorphic Building Envelopes, in Wang, J. (eds.), Advanced Materials in Smart Building Skins for Sustainability, Springer Nature Switzerland. (ISBN: 978-3031096945, doi:10.1007/978-3-031-09695-2_4)
Self-shaping wood for manufacturing and construction
Wood, D.: 2021, Material programming for fabrication : integrative computational design for self-shaping curved wood building components in architecture. ICD Research Report No. 6, Universität Stuttgart, Stuttgart. (http://dx.doi.org/10.18419/opus-11968)
Wood, D., Grönquist, P., Bechert, S., Aldinger, L., Riggenbach, D., Lehmann, K., Rüggeberg, M., Burgert, I., Knippers, J., Menges, A.: 2020, From Machine Control to Material Programming: Self-Shaping Wood Manufacturing of a High Performance Curved CLT Structure -- Urbach Tower, in Burry, J., Sabin, J., Sheil, B., Skavara, M. (eds.), Fabricate 2020: Making Resilient Architecture, UCL Press, London, pp. 50-57. (https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv13xpsvw.11)
Grönquist, P., Wood, D., Hassani, M., Wittel, F., Menges, A., Rüggeberg, M.: 2019, Analysis of hygroscopic self-shaping wood at large scale for curved mass timber structures, Science Advances, Vol. 5 No. 9, pp. eaax1311. (doi:10.1126/sciadv.aax1311 )
Wood, D. , Vailati, C., Menges, A., Rüggeberg, M.: 2018, Hygroscopically actuated wood elements for weather responsive and self-forming building parts- Facilitating upscaling and complex shape changes. Construction and Building Materials, Elsevier, March 2018, DOI:10.1016/j.conbuildmat.2017.12.134
Wood, D. , Correa, D., Krieg, O., Menges, A.: 2016, Material computation—4D timber construction: Towards building-scale hygroscopic actuated, self-constructing timber surfaces, International Journal of Architectural Computing (IJAC), Sage, February 2016, DOI: 10.1177/1478077115625522
4D printing and adaptive systems
Cheng, T., Thielen, M., Poppinga, S., Tahouni, Y., Wood, D., Steinberg, T., Menges, A., Speck, T.: 2021, Bio‐Inspired Motion Mechanisms: Computational Design and Material Programming of Self‐Adjusting 4D‐Printed Wearable Systems. Advanced Science, 2100411. (DOI: 10.1002/advs.202100411)
Tahouni, Y., Cheng, T., Wood, D., Sachse, R., Thierer, R., Bischoff, M., Menges, A.: 2020, Self-shaping Curved Folding: a 4D-printing method for fabrication of curved creased origami structures. In Symposium on Computational Fabrication (SCF '20), November 5–6, 2020, Virtual Event, USA. ACM, New York, NY, USA. (doi: 10.1145/3424630.3425416)
Giachini, P., Gupta, S., Wang, W., Wood, D., Yunusa, M., Baharlou, E., Sitti, M., Menges, A.: 2020, Additive manufacturing of cellulose-based materials with continuous, multidirectional stiffness gradients, Science Advances, Vol. 6, No. 8. (doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aay0929)
Courses
Materials and Machines - Intermediate Digital Fabrication - Seminar
Performative Wood Morphologies - ARCH 484/5 - Intermediate Studio (winter)
Advanced Timber Manufacturing and Construction - Design Build - Seminar (spring)
MS and Independent Study by consultation