Through this project, a computational process is designed to reassemble fragments of stones or concrete elements into structural assemblies.

The first part of the process involves the computation of a vectorial characterization of the pieces from the fragment’s inventory. In parallel, Rhinovault, a structural form-finding method using the Thrust-Network-Approach is used to design a compression-only vault. The vaults are then discretized using a parametric pattern to produce target fragments. The Hungarian matching algorithm is employed to find the best match between the pieces from the inventory and the target. An optimization loop is finally applied to the parametric discretization pattern to refine the accuracy of the composition.

An aim of the project is to push forward a new material ethic by associating delicate architectural tectonics and up-cycling of devaluated materials through optimized computational methods.

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