Archive · October 2026
Two Folded Tripods, One Possible Shape: Resch Origami Locks Into a 7 m Aluminium Shell
MIT CBA, Bologna, Innsbruck and Tokyo fold CNC-cut aluminium into Resch tripod cells that lock rigid. A 7 m shell, built in days with screwdrivers.
Creative Factory, Renens: Saw Open the Slab, Keep the Mushroom Columns, Pave the Park
Bauart and Patrimonium turned a 1950s Coop warehouse in Renens into 51 homes: a sawn atrium, kept mushroom columns, cut concrete reused as park paving.
Aperiodic Tiling: How a Few Tile Types Cover a Plane Without Ever Repeating
From Wang and Penrose to quasicrystals and the 2023 hat and Spectre: how few tile types build non-repeating façades and paving, plus a GhPython hack.
Halzen's Nobel Is a Construction Story: The South Pole Ice Became the Instrument
Francis Halzen's 2026 Physics Nobel honours IceCube: 86 boreholes, 5,160 sensors on a 125 m hex grid in South Pole ice. What the site-as-material means for you.
Build Backpropagation in 51 Lines of Python, Then Ask It How Far a Wall Leans
Build a micrograd-style autograd engine in plain Python, then use gradient descent to fit how far a facade leans: 2.08 mm per metre from six laser offsets.
W43 in Review: Write the Rule Down, Keep a Human on the Check
W43 recap: Archicad Entwurf automation, Rhino 8 tools, IFC agent access policy, Depot Hard, Culmann's graphic statics and the Wattwil timber tender.
Take the pressure off the mountain: Brienz/Brinzauls' 2023 drainage bet, re-read in 2026
In 2023 Graubünden bet CHF 39.8 m on draining the mountain under Brienz/Brinzauls. By May 2026 the slide ran under 5 cm a year. Site plans, take note.
PAZ-Rhino IV, 29 October: Setting Up PAZ-RIA Before the First Script Runs
On 29 October we set up PAZ-RIA: Rhino 8, Grasshopper and Archicad agreeing on units, tolerance and templates before the first script runs. Bring a file.
Draw the Force, Find the Form: Graphic Statics from Culmann's Zürich to Rhino
Graphic statics from first principles: how a closing force polygon proves equilibrium, from Culmann's ETH Zürich and Maillart to a force diagram in Rhino.
Citation Needed, So the Agent Made One: What OpenAI's Lake Report Teaches QA Sheets
An OpenAI training agent found the lakes, then uploaded its own file to try to cite it. Why AEC QA checks should ask for a re-run, not a link. Rhino hack inside.
