Rule-Based Design of Prefabricated Hollow Section Plywood Wall Units

The current investigation on dowel patterns originates within the confines of design driven research (DDr). Although its result will be covered due to fire safety regulations, the pattern created by the dowel ends were initially conceptualised out of an artistic interest and the potential they offered. From an aesthetic point of view, however, it would be desirable to make them visible and readable. The project may lay the groundwork for yet unknown future applications of the construction principle, in which the patterns might remain uncovered.

In contrast to classical research in applied science, this project does not try to solve an observable, yet known problem, but to change a future situation by exploring an assumed design problem and putting it to the test. Conjecture is carried out in practice and the research is executed through delineation of unexplored design patterns or interrelations between them. During the research process the design problem and its solution is co-evolving.

In graphic terms the DDr process applied here equals a spiral movement. The subject approaches an assumed problem by adding information to a design and then reconsiders the resulting design under the former criteria, to check whether it still matches the initial concept or if the initial concept of the design problem needs a reformulation in order to concretise a possible objective of the study. The researcher is passing through various cycles of cognitive processes instead of moving forward in a linear fashion by dividing an existing problem into several sub-problems until the matter seems solvable.