ArchDaily has posted a rather interesting selection of metal connectors meant for laminated wood products. At one level, the different methods are great to look at for seeing what’s available currently for such things and I’d also posit that they’re also great examples to draw from when looking into designing something a little more custom or further afield.
These 15 examples, for me, beg the question of whether there are ways where these connectors could be made with wood (engineered or otherwise) or even integrated into the laminate components themselves. Obviously this supposes that there would need to be a greater amount of fabrication per component and connector – and certainly a bit of engineering involved.
This thinking sort of dovetails with the previous post looking at how IKEA is working to reduce the overall part count and to an extent, the combination of materials and components. Perhaps the same can be done with architectural-scale projects.
Creating connectors out of wood does pose a few interesting issues, namely it would appear that most of these pictured in the article calls for bolting in two directions 90 degrees off from each other. This is a bit more complex with most wood products where grain tends to be an issue – and is certainly not the case with metals where strength is homogeneous no matter which direction.