University of Westminster DS10 This studio highly values sustainable design principles, as well as closely examining the holistic relationship between parametric modeling and emerging fabrication technologies. It is vital that design solutions respond intelligently to their wider cultural and environmental context by ensuring that research is grounded in architectural reality. This notion is nurtured by a deep exploration of construction technology - the act of making and learning by testing ideas in the real world. Timber has been specifically chosen as a topic of study for its value as a sustainable building material. The built environment contributes heavily to global carbon emissions, much of which is related to the production of concrete. Part 1: Design Development This project seeks to explore phyllotaxis (the study of plant geometry) in an endeavor to understand the structural and formal logic behind the immense variety of spiraling patterns found in plants and in nature. Early research led to exploring spirals in spiral staircases, as they are a traditional example of load-bearing, compressive spirals. Digital experiments led to playing with a variety of changing angles on a single stair. Part 2: Research & Analysis The abstracted architectural construction technology, derived from a series of physical and digital studies, is then developed organically into a greater architectural project that responds intelligently to its context. The ambition is to explore how this research can inform decisions that ultimately lead to large-scale communities. This is done while critically examining the aspects of the social and built environments that affect their ability to be perpetuated in a sustainable fashion. Part 3: Final Proposal Insight into the ultimate vision of the community-driven project. A proposal that has been shaped and informed by a long series of studies exploring the practical, economical, and environmental aspects of the endeavor.