[ ply-studio ] Plywood Tower

On the subject of ply, here's some recent work with plywood which was done with the 2nd year design studio that I teach at the University of Singapore's architecture school. The module was about experimenting with plywood as a constructional material. In 6 weeks, students had to build a 1:1 scale construct that resulted from studio investigations into plywood's material, structural and aesthetic properties. Each studio was given 10 sheets of 4ft x 8ft sheet of 12mm plywood. The construction and fabrication processes were deliberately made analogue without the aid of cnc nor cadcam technology.

For both years the studio's focus of investigation was informed by the notion of a 'limit'. Students observed what was a perceivable limit of plywood and challenged that directly.

The investigation focused on pushing the acceptable limits of plywood in testing its ability to be arranged as a self-supporting structure and in the maximisation of the given 10 nos. of 4ft x 8ft plywood sheets to ensure minimal wastage.

Centered around the theme of verticality, the design of structure is primarily based on a single plywood module of 600mm x 200mm which is repeated and interlocked at 22.5 degrees with other similar modules in a circular form, spiraling upwards. The result is a vertically woven structure of ‘jig-saw’ like plywood pieces which lends structural rigidity as a whole. The final diameter and height of the structure was constrained by the templating of 200 modules of interlocking pieces that could be cut out from the given 10 sheets with minimum wastage. The final structure rose to a height of 6m and has a diameter of 1m.

The design and geometry of the plywood modules were done through theoretical calculations and repeated tries to devise the optimum dimensions, interlocking angle and strength of the interlocking joint in relation to shear stress and torsional forces.