Easy planning and manufacturing of complex wooden objects

Creating free-forms out of wood entails high fabrication costs, because the objects are normally composed of complex individual components that are difficult to manufacture. There must be an easier way, thought Miro Bannwart, an architecture student, and in 2017 he began developing a plug-in for the 3D-modelling software Rhinoceros as part of his bachelor’s degree at BFH. His goal was to make it possible at the digital project design stage to transform the complex basic shape into individual parts that are easy to produce. In spring 2023, the plugin called Sawfish was released on the Food4Rhino and opensource platforms on GitHub. Using triangular shapes, it generates simplified production geometries from complex free-form areas which can be cut with either a CNC router or a hand-held circular saw.

The user-friendly plug-in is the result of several projects in the field of digital construction that Miro Bannwart worked on during his studies and, between 2020 and 2023, as a research associate at the Institute for Digital Economy in the Construction and Wood Industry (IdBH).