Over a period of 20 weeks in the spring of 2026, students of the MAS ETH DFAB will design and fabricate a prototype of a timber roof structure for the extension of the HIL building. The project builds on ongoing research by the research chair of Gramazio Kohler. It will use the open-source toolkit COMPAS Timber for the design process, and the Robotic Fabrication Laboratory (RFL) in the HIB building for digital fabrication.
The structure developed by the MAS ETH DFAB has the potential to serve as the primary load-bearing system for the HIL building extension. This input project will enable early and in-depth investigation of the existing building, so that the design scope for the future vertical extension can be explored and insights for further planning can be gained.
This will also be an opportunity to further utilize experimental resources such as COMPAS Timber, which is a digital planning tool for timber construction. It integrates the entire workflow—from design to fabrication—within the CAD environment, and enables robust data exchange between design, engineering, and production. The assembly of the timber components takes place through human–machine collaboration, employing CNC manufacturing, robotics, and extended reality.
This project is conceived as an interdisciplinary collaboration connected the expertise of several chairs: Gramazio Kohler Research, Frangi (timber construction), Taras (digital structural model of HIL), and Martina Voser (sponge city). The project is further complemented by partners from the timber construction industry.