Aug 26, 2023 - Economy

How AI could make architecture more efficient

Felix Salmon

Carlo Ratti pavilion — Photo: Reed Photographic

A small pavilion at the Digital Futures exhibition in Shanghai could give a hint as to how AI will make architecture more efficient.

How it works: It's made of cross-laminated timber (CLT), an increasingly popular building material that often substitutes for carbon-intensive concrete, especially in prefabricated buildings.

Conventional CLT is made by gluing layers of solid-sawn lumber boards perpendicular to each other, creating a material that's extremely strong.
Creating perfectly rectangular boards, however, creates a lot of wood waste.

By using AI to scan logs before they're sawn, startup Maestro Technologies has found a way to tessellate wobbly boards so they fit together perfectly in every layer of the CLT.

"The irregular geometry celebrates the original shape of the tree," says architect and Maestro founder Carlo Ratti. "We are using the artificial to bring out the brilliance of the natural."

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How AI could make architecture more efficient

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