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Forest of Fabrication
dRMM: pioneers of timber architecture exhibition
: Collaboration, Digital Manufacturing, Engineered Timber, Sustainability Exemplars
Liverpool venue RIBA North
The exhibition featured 24 dRMM projects designed over 24 years. Models of both built and unbuilt schemes showed how they all pushed the boundaries of possibility for timber structures.
Liverpool venue RIBA North
Pioneering in practice
Many of the models exhibited had never previously been publicly displayed, and were shown alongside digital projections of concept sketches, project drawings, construction and final photographs. The displays were testament of dRMM’s research and innovation through material research, model making and prototyping.
The exhibition revealed our thought process of investigating structural systems through fabrication and testing; exploring new assemblies and probing one-to-one building fragments.
‘Forest of Fabrication’ was hosted at The Building Centre from in London, from February to May 2019 and at RIBA North gallery in Liverpool from September 2019 to March 2020.
Let's talk about trees
During its life a tree makes oxygen, eats carbon and provides food, shade, habitat, colour and character. And endlessly renews itself. Trees control wind, water levels, soil erosion, pollution and temperature. Not only do trees make cities more livable and desirable when alive, they then provide fuel, compost and construction material when dead—an exemplary model of positive design.
dRMM deliberately presented the delicately crafted timber models on freshly cut tree trunks, bringing the raw material back to the heart of the conversation. Developing sustainable forestry and planting more than is cut is a prerequisite to meaningful engineered timber construction.
Model making and the design process
To us, models are an essential piece of architectural design development. dRMM’s workshop is a testbed for architectural exploration. It is where architectural drawings and concepts are confronted for the first time with the physical reality of materiality, gravity and the three-dimensional world.
dRMM enjoy developing concepts and capturing clients’ visions through extraordinary models that prove that the 2D can be realised in 3D.
Starting a conversation around models
Good models not only convey the form of an architectural project but also its materiality, tactile qualities, building sequence and many other aspects. Playful, evocative and interactive, dRMM models are real conversation starters.
‘Forest of Fabrication’ was a theatre of great knowledge exchange and networking both in London and Liverpool, placing dRMM at the forefront of the progress of timber design. The show attracted a number of professionals invested in the development of timber construction, or simply interested and curious about its potential. dRMM curated a varied programme of events to start conversations between collaborators and specialists from all industries; forging new connections between students, researchers, designers, engineers, manufacturers and developers.
