University of Stuttgart engineers have harnessed the natural shrinking process of wood as it loses moisture to create this world-first self-twisted tower in Germany.
The university's Institute for Computational Design and Construction (ICD) and Institute for Building Structures and Structural Design (ITKE) built the Urbach Tower in the Rems Valley for the Remstal Garden Show.

The structure is made using a new, non-energy-intensive process that involves predicting how wood will shrink as it dries out. Based on this technique, the flat timber panels are designed to warp into the desired shape.
The 14-metre-high Urbach Tower marks the first time that this process has been used in the construction of a building.

The ICD and ITKE describe the method as a way of "programming" wood to take on a specific shape, and say that the timber is in effect "self-shaping". "While making this work is relatively simple, predicting the outcome is the real challenge," said ICD head Achim Menges. "Being able to do so opens up many new architectural possibilities."

A key advantage of self-shaping is that it requires little energy, avoiding the need for the kind of heavy machinery that would usually form these kinds of timber components.
"Computational design and simulation enables us to work with the material and to unfold specific form from it, rather than forcing it into shape," continued Menges.

The process starts with 5-by-1.2-metre panels ...