Digital Structures MIT

A material bank for the future of construction and circularity. Can we use digital infrastructure to surface new material intelligences and enable circular economies at scale?  As part of From Liquid to Stone at the 2025 Venice Architecture Biennale @labiennale , we were invited to contribute a digital material passport system for Pixelframe, a modular precast construction system developed by @future_assemblies and @digitalstructuresmit at @mitarchitecture . We created a mobile platform that catalogs each Pixelframe component through tagged RFID chips. Visitors can scan any element in the installation to access its full material record, revealing its carbon emissions, fabrication history, and movement across sites and assemblies. #biennalearchitettura2025 #intelligens

We’re excited to share the opening of “From Liquid to Stone” an exhibit at the 19th International Architecture Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia, curated by Carlo Ratti @labiennale @crassociati The exhibit is centered around a prototype of Pixelframe, featuring (re)assemblies and scale models demonstrating the new concrete tectonic possibilities of the system. This work has been made possible by the generous support of MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium, MIT School of Architecture and Planning @mitarchitecture , and MassCEC @masscec . Participants: Inge Donovan @ingedonovan @future_assemblies Jenna Schnitzler @j_schnitz Caitlin Mueller Keith J Lee @keith_j_l Pitipat Wongsittikan @pitiwongs An interface to track the concrete modules was developed in collaboration with @spolialab - more on the digital Material Bank coming soon! #BiennaleArchitettura2025 #IntelliGens

Opening to the public at the Biennale Architettura 2025 (@labiennale ), curated by Carlo Ratti (@crassociati ), May 10–November 23, VAMO—Vegetal, Animal, Mineral, Other—is part of the main exhibition “Intelligens. Natural. Artificial. Collective.” A collaboration between ETH Zurich (@ethzurich ), the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (@MIT ), and other partners, VAMO explores how circular design, computation, and material reuse can inform new context-sensitive approaches to building. Presented in the Corderie of the Arsenale, the installation’s structure interlaces wooden compression rings with an anticlastic tensile network of spliced hemp-rope cable net, spanning 6.5 m in pure tension. It displays a palette of circular & biodegradable cladding materials made from waste wool (COBI, Manteco), pineapple peels (Vérabuccia®), spent coffee grounds (Cortado), coconut husks (Kokus), wood biomass / biopolymers (Hera Materials, DumoLab Research), leather dust and collagen (ReLea Core). Surrounding the installation, stools made from reclaimed wood display waste Murano glass (rehub). Designed & fabricated across Zurich, CH, and Cambridge, USA, it was assembled in Venice with disassembly and reuse in mind. After the Biennale, VAMO will be relocated to Switzerland to be reused and then slowly biodegrade. 🔗 Learn more, download the VAMO booklet + find a full list of credits at link in bio Thank you to the many partners: – Computational form-finding: @digitalstructuresmit – Material Upcycling: ETH Zurich’s Circular Engineering for Architecture (@catherinedewolf ) – Woodcraft: @anku.swiss – Materials: @mitdesignx ; MIT MAD (@mitdesignacademy ); & MITdesignX Venice w/ local partner @serendpt_venezia , supported the development & acceleration of teams such as @cobi.build , Cortado, Hera Materials (@atacama_biomaterials ), Kokus, @rehub.glass , and @Verabucciabrand . Additional materials teams include @dumolab Research, based at the @uofpenn @weitzman_school , ReLea Core, based at @polimi , and @manteco_official , a leader in high-end circular textiles. – Special thanks to @targetti_lighting for providing VADER spotlights. @mitarchitecture | @mitsap | @lloydleephotography

Concrete is a ubiquitous structural material and the demand for it is accelerating - yet it is used wastefully, with cementitious material accounting for over 70% of construction and demolition waste in the US. We asked ourselves: how can we design a concrete system that can be disassembled and reused when it is no longer needed, diverting waste from landfill? Pixel.frame is a reconfigurable precast concrete structural framing system designed for reuse in the circular building economy. The system uses a segmented, post-tensioned design with unbonded mechanical connections and no embedded steel reinforcement to optimize reuse potential while preserving material efficiency, thus reducing up front embodied carbon. We recently presented at CISBAT 2023: The Built Environment in Transition, with our first paper showing promising results for the reuse potential and carbon savings of the pixel.frame system. The full paper will be published soon in a special issue of the Journal of Physics Conference Series. Credits: @digitalstructuresmit Director: Caitlin Mueller Research team: @cr__inge , @j_schnitz , @keith_j_l2 , @pitiwongs Research assistants: @lyjemilyia and Hazel Mann Support: MIT Climate and Sustainability Consortium (MCSC) @mitarchitecture @mitsap

Reducing embodied carbon in structural systems: A review of early-stage design strategies While many strategies have been identified and proposed for reducing embodied carbon in early-stage structural design, they are rarely synthesized to discuss their relative effectiveness and compatibility. Discussing the strategies together rather than individually is important because not all strategies are equally effective or can be implemented simultaneously. This paper, recently published in the Journal of Building Engineering, presents a synthesized discussion by clarifying a network of design strategies for reducing embodied carbon in structural systems, supported by a literature review. Existing guides for embodied carbon reduction are typically written by practitioners; this paper enhances them by examining patterns in academic literature to both support the plurality of known strategies and identify those that are overlooked or underutilized. Using quantitative meta-analyses and qualitative assessments of the literature, the strategies are evaluated for literature prevalence and origins, advantages and limitations, novelty, and compatibility. The results help designers understand which strategies can be immediately prioritized for reducing the adverse environmental effects of building structures, while documenting state-of-the-art research of each strategy. This paper was co-authored by Demi Fang @demi.fang , Nathan Brown @nathcollbro , Catherine De Wolf @catherinedewolf , and Caitlin Mueller. The paper is available for free before August 25 at the following URL: /a/1hNBa8MyS96Y7g Link also in bio.

Our first wild wood gridshell prototype will serve as a solar kiln to dry greenwood in the woodshop’s courtyard. The shingle cladding is made of reclaimed sheets of acrylic mounted on bundled bamboo ribs. Hopefully the kiln will allow us to dry more wild wood and keep exploring how to build creative structures with non-standard reclaimed elements. Credits: @digitalstructuresmit Director : Caitlin Mueller Research team: Tim Cousin @p_a_l_z_i_n_c Latifa Al-Khayat @line.tifa Natalie Pearl @_nattyp_ Research assistants: Hailey Quinn @haileyq3312 Angela Zhang @turdtinos Aldrin Gaffud Technical advising: Chris Dewart @christopherdewart Financial support: MIT HASS Award @mitarchitecture @mitsap

After solving the design aspect of the problem through computational tools, remains the question of how to build the non-standard structure ? Instead of relying on heavy digital fabrication tools and construction site jigs, we opted for a Mixed Reality strategy using Fologram (@fologm ) that enables a more versatile and accessible workflow. The forks were traced using AR guides to locate the scarf joints cuts. Once the joints cut, the elements were located and assembled on site thanks to an AR projection of the digital model. The joints design incorporates a buffer material strategy that mitigates the high tolerance of the previous fabrication steps. Credits: @digitalstructuresmit Director : Caitlin Mueller Research team: Tim Cousin @p_a_l_z_i_n_c Latifa Al-Khayat @line.tifa Natalie Pearl @_nattyp_ Research assistants: Hailey Quinn @haileyq3312 Angela Zhang @turdtinos Aldrin Gaffud Technical advising: Chris Dewart @christopherdewart Financial support: MIT HASS Award @mitarchitecture @mitsap

The Wild Wood Gridshell research proposes a design-to-fabrication workflow to explore structures made with non-marketable tree forks and small diameter branches. A prototype was built this summer with forks salvaged from the thinning of campus trees. The branches were 3D scanned and processed into vectorial representations. Users define target topology patterns that are matched in real time with the forks from the inventory through a matching algorithm. The network is then optimized to further improve the match. Many shell forms and topology patterns can be explored though this workflow. Structural analysis is also performed in the computational loop in order to inform users on the structural performances of the explored designs. Credits: @digitalstructuresmit Director : Caitlin Mueller Research team: Tim Cousin @p_a_l_z_i_n_c Latifa Al-Khayat @line.tifa Natalie Pearl @_nattyp_ Research assistants: Hailey Quinn @haileyq3312 Angela Zhang @turdtinos Aldrin Gaffud Technical advising: Chris Dewart @christopherdewart Financial support: MIT HASS Award @mitarchitecture @mitsap

Dreams of Earth exhibits the use of local materials through two building elements: 3D-printed clay blocks that span between precast concrete beams as lost formwork and compressed earth blocks (Ecoblocks) fabricated with local soil, tepetate, with high contents of clay. The geometric flexibility of 3D-printing facilitates the production of mass customized ceramic block elements tailored to available materials and building design. Sueños con Tierra exhibe el uso de materiales locales a través de dos elementos constructivos: bovedillas de arcilla impresas en 3D que se apoyan entre las viguetas de concreto y bloques de tierra comprimida (Ecoblocks) fabricados con tepetate, una tierra local con alto contenidos de arcilla. La flexibilidad geométrica de la impresión 3D facilita la producción en masa de bovedillas cerámicas personalizadas que se adaptan a los materiales disponibles y al diseño del edificio. More info & links to publications @suenoscon_cdmx https://suenos.mit.edu/ By @motoengil_mexico and @mit_lcau @mitsap @mitarchitecture featured in @mextropoli @_arquine , Sept. 21 to 25 Sueños Earth/Concrete: @digitalstructuresmit | Director: Caitlin Mueller Pavilion design team: Edu Gascón, @moh.isms @sandycurth @kiley_fi @p_a_l_z_i_n_c Collaborators: @echalemex @newstory @dinorahmschulte @manufacturamx @anforastudio Photos by: @dinorahmschulte @the_faxmachine , Edu Gascón

Dreams of Concrete explores the future of affordable housing in Mexico by minimizing the material impact of existing construction methods. Traditional viguetas, precast concrete beams, are sculpted through shape optimization, reducing their material consumption and its associated environmental impact by 50%. Sueños con Concreto explora el futuro de la vivienda asequible en México a través de métodos constructivos de bajo impacto material. Viguetas prefabricadas de hormigón se esculpen mediante técnicas de optimización de la forma. De esta manera se reduce en un 50% su consumo de material y su impacto ambiental asociado. More info & links to publications @suenoscon_cdmx https://suenos.mit.edu/ By @motoengil_mexico and @mit_lcau @mitsap @mitarchitecture featured in @mextropoli @_arquine , Sept. 21 to 25 Sueños Earth/Concrete: @digitalstructuresmit | Director: Caitlin Mueller Pavilion design team: Edu Gascón, @moh.isms @sandycurth @kiley_fi @p_a_l_z_i_n_c Collaborators: @echalemex @newstory @dinorahmschulte @manufacturamx @anforastudio Photos by: @dinorahmschulte , Edu Gascón, @kiley_fi

Thanks to @triloxworkshop for an inspiring weekend at the Yale-Myers Forest Camp for the #fieldworks Forest Summit. Great discussion about how local sourcing can make a big and sustainable impact on forestry, #wood, design, and buildings. @paulmayencourt @yalefes