The recent conference HANDS ON. Enhancing Architectural Education, held in Vienna, presented a digitally advanced student project with steam bent jigs. In our increasingly complex professional environment, mastering technology and construction experience are crucial parts of architectural work. DesignBuild Studios haye thus recently been integrated into the architectural curriculum of numerous international universities in order to offer students the opportunity to be involved in all phases of a real architectural project. A recent conference on the topic was organized at Vienna University of Technology in order to reflect on DesignBuild as a tool in architectural education. The DesignBuild concept is even more important for future education, when students will benefit from the opportunity to experiment with relevant digital technology concepts. The Design and Make Studio of the Architectural Association (AA) in London, for example, combines digital technology and design as an important aspect of the construction process. One of the recent projects involving digital design and fabrication knowledge is the Timber Seasoning Shelter. The design is a canopy which provides shelter from rain for the stacked air-drying timber to be used in future student-designed buildings in Hooke Park. The canopy is constructed from a reciprocal grid of steam-bent lamellas fabricated from local beech trees. The hexagonal reciprocal pattern allows for a continuous structure that could be built of relatively short pieces of timber - the maximum length of reasonable quality that could be viably extracted from local trees. The trees were carefully selected and felled by the students themselves with the help of experts several months before the actual construction began.
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