Timber Earth Composite

This research focuses on the investigation of hybrid components made from timber and earth, utilizing digital design and fabrication methods. The main emphasis is on the potential of this material system for load-bearing, horizontally spanned elements. The combination of timber and earth offers complementary properties in the areas of load-bearing capacity, sound insulation, fire protection, and thermal mass, enabling the development of components with enhanced characteristics while reducing wood consumption.

In contrast to established hybrid composite materials such as reinforced concrete or timber-concrete composites, which hinder resource-efficient reuse due to irreversible material bonds, this research aims to enable a circular use of the materials involved.

The primary objective is to design the interface between timber and earth to achieve an optimized shear connection. This will be pursued through geometric integration, such as the inclusion of additional wooden elements like shear keys, or through the spatially differentiated arrangement of wooden components.