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Tree forks (from 34)
wooden replacements for traditional con-
crete and steel elements, the focus is on
harvesting the straight sections of trees.
Irregular sections
Irregular sections such as knots and forks
are turned into pellets and burned, or
ground up to make garden mulch, which
will decompose within a few years; both
approaches release the carbon trapped in
the wood to the atmosphere.
For the past four years, Mueller and her
Digital Structures research group have
been developing a strategy for “upcycling”
those waste materials by using them in
construction — not as cladding or finishes
aimed at improving appearance, but as
structural components. “The greatest val
ue you can give to a material is to give it a
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load-bearing role in a structure,” she says.
But when builders use virgin materials,
those structural components are the most
emissions-intensive parts of buildings due
to their large volume of high-strength ma-
terials.
Upcycled materials
Using upcycled materials in place of those
high-carbon systems is therefore especial-
ly impactful in reducing emissions.
Mueller and her team focus on tree forks
— that is, spots where the trunk or branch
of a tree divides in two, forming a Y-
shaped piece.
In architectural drawings, there are many
similar Y-shaped nodes where straight ele-
ments come together. In such cases, those
units must be strong enough to support
critical loads. mit.edu