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Here’s a summary of the findings from each workshop, along with video commentary from participating designers and architects.
A Closer Look at Combinatorial Tooling: From Few Molds, Many Panels
HKS LINE (Laboratory for INtensive Exploration) and Zahner workshop leaders challenged a basic assumption of architectural fabrication: that every unique panel requires a unique mold.
The workshop explored how a limited set of reusable tooling blocks could generate numerous panel geometries. By rotating, mirroring, repositioning, and recombining the blocks, participants created varied surfaces while maintaining consistent panel boundaries and connections.
The concept has practical implications for custom façades, screens, partitions, and other formed-metal assemblies. Because specialized tooling can make variation expensive, a combinatorial system could give architects greater creative freedom while reducing tooling costs and fabrication complexity.
Hear from Combinatorial Tooling Workshop Participants
Charles Portelli, Senior Associate at Perkins&Will, shares his appreciation for practical applications of the Combinatorial Tooling workshop.
Līva Sadovska, Computational Design intern at HKS, shares what she learned about modularity at smaller scales in the Combinatorial Tooling workshop.
Participants used vacuum-formed thermoplastic as an accessible proxy for full-scale formed-metal fabrication. They developed configurations in Rhino and Grasshopper, produced tooling through CNC milling and 3D printing, and formed plastic sheets over their tools.
This rapid process let teams evaluate curvature, depth, material thinning, and tool relationships, then immediately adjust their next iteration.
The experiments showed how surprisingly complex surfaces can emerge from simple tooling. Participants also introduced paper, fabric, pushpins, printed parts, and found objects. Even unexpected outcomes such as tearing, thinning, and tool deformation generated ideas, including using translucent areas for integrated lighting.
Another discovery involved registration. Although participants initially assumed every tool needed precise positioning before forming, they found that components might instead be trimmed and indexed afterward, potentially simplifying production.
The completed panels were assembled into a partition using a dual-shell concept: an expressive outer surface paired with a standardized inner layer that provides structure and accommodates insulation or other systems.
Ultimately, the workshop demonstrated Zahner’s signature iterative approach to innovation and design assist: starting with an affordable prototype, learning from physical material behavior, and advancing promising ideas toward formed-metal systems and building-scale applications.
Exploring Selective Patina: Programmable Surface Design
This workshop focused on how digitally controlled tools could apply patina solutions in localized patterns. Rather than changing panel geometry to create variation, participants kept the metal panels consistent and varied the processes used to finish them.
The research has significant architectural potential. Digitally directed patina could support project-specific patterns, gradients, location-dependent finishes, and controlled variation across large panel systems. It could also create a more repeatable connection between a designer’s digital intent and Zahner’s material-finishing expertise.
Participants generated patterns in Rhino and Grasshopper, translated them into machine movements, and used repurposed 3D printers and CNC plotters fitted with brushes, dabbers, felt tips, markers, and rotating applicators to deposit patina solutions.
Hear from Selective Patina Workshop Participants
Melissa Mendoza, a student, shares what surprised her about the precision available with Selective Patina.
Nicole Sugihara, Architect at LETTER FOUR, discusses the creative opportunities Selective Patina offers.
They quickly discovered that the digital toolpath was only one variable. Machine speed, pressure, applicator type, chemical concentration, surface preparation, drying time, and rinse timing all influenced the result. Furthermore, the machine was not simply printing an image; it was initiating a chemical reaction.
One revealing discovery came when a panel received another chemical application the following day. Instead of intensifying the original pattern, portions of the first treatment appeared to act as a resist, creating a sharp subtractive line and suggesting possibilities for layered or resistive patina processes.
One participant compared the experience to an art class mediated through fabrication technology. The machine provided control and repeatability, while the chemistry preserved uncertainty and discovery.
The workshop reflected Zahner’s collaborative approach to research and design assist: start with accessible tools, learn from material behavior, and let those findings reshape the design. Though not yet a finished commercial system, the experiment suggested a path toward larger CNC equipment, robotic application, and precision-controlled architectural finishes.
Beyond the Workshops: What Makes AECtech+ So Valuable
Hear more from attendees of AECtech+ Los Angeles 2026, and why they find the AECtech format so valuable for the Architecture, Engineering, and Construction industries:
David Mans, Director of AECtech and part of Thornton Tomasetti’s CORE Studio, explains the goal of AECtech and what makes it unique.
Sophie Moore, Associate Application Developer at Thornton Tomasetti’s CORE Studio, explains the importance of AECtech+ for connecting technologists.
Jeffrey McGrew, a partner at BWC Architects, speaks about the value of AECtech+ and what he finds exciting about the event.
