Integral Mechanical Attachment for Timber Folded Plate Structures

Timber folded plate Structures combine the advantages of timber as a construction material, such as its carbon-dioxide storage, low energy production and favorable weight-to-strength ratio, with the structural efficiency and elegance of folded surface structures. The construction of such surface-active structure systems with timber is a relatively new development, driven by an increasing awareness for sustainable building constructions, and enabled by new engineered wood products. However, these constructions require a large amount of edgewise joints between the thin timber plates, which are difficult to address with state-of-the-art connection techniques. Instead of using mass-produced mechanical fasteners for these connections, this research investigates the use of customized Integral Mechanical Attachment techniques, which use geometrical features of the parts to establish connections, rather than additional fasteners.