The College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University announce an important step in their creative and critical response to the Emerald Ash Borer beetle, an invasive species devastating native Ash trees across the country. The Emerald Ash Borer is thought to have been introduced to American forests via human trade and travel in the summer of 2002, and today threatens 8.7 billion trees across the country and nearly one in ten Ash trees in New York state.
HANNAH Office has designed and constructed a full-scale prototype cabin home in rural Upstate New York, that responds to the environmental crisis, and, advances the use of technologies such as robotics and 3D printing in timber and concrete construction.
© Andy Chen
Consistently advancing technologies ? specifically robotics and 3D printed concrete ? and their use in the architectural design discipline and construction industries make the use of infested ash trees possible. Zivkovic is director of the Robotic Construction Lab (RCL) at Cornell, where the team built a custom robotic platform for the sole purpose of processing the irregular ash trees.  The robotic arm they use was discovered on eBay and previously built cars for General Motors. Zivkovic and the RCL team repurposed the robot, reprogramming it to methodically saw and shape the wood at a scale usable for structural and design elements. © Andy Chen
In response to the use of concrete, one of the most widely used building materials on earth, the Cor...