AUTOMATING CIRCULARITY IN TIMBER CONSTRUCTION THROUGH COLLABORATIVE CYBER-PHYSICAL RECONFIGURATION

As the construction sector moves toward circularity, reconfigurable timber systems are gaining prominence for their potential to enable material reuse, adaptability, and extended carbon storage. This article introduces ReconWood—a cyber-physical construction framework that integrates computational design, robotic fabrication, human–robot collaboration, and mixed reality to operationalise circularity in timber architecture. By treating timber reconfiguration as an additive, iterative process, ReconWood supports the precise assembly and disassembly of modular components designed for reuse. The system incorporates voxel-based generative design, digital twins, and material passports to maintain continuity between physical elements and their lifecycle data, ensuring traceability and reuse across multiple construction cycles. Robotic mass production and mass customisation enable scalable fabrication, while collaborative assembly processes—augmented by real-time sensing and extended reality—facilitate adaptive decision-making and on-site flexibility. By embedding intelligence across digital and physical domains, ReconWood positions automation not as a marginal enhancement but as the foundational infrastructure for implementing circular construction at scale.