YUMING BAI
Research and Tools

Chickadee

Design-automation plugin for small prefabricated mass-timber housing.

Year
2024 – 2026
Role
Sole developer (MASc thesis)
Location
UNBC, Prince George, BC
Status
In development
Tags
computational design · mass timber · C# · CSA O86 · DfMA
Chickadee workflow, from architectural drawings to a prefab-ready model

Chickadee is Yuming Bai’s MASc thesis project at the University of Northern British Columbia, supervised by Dr. Jianhui Zhou. It is a Rhino 8 / Grasshopper plugin written in C# that takes the architectural drawings of a small house and produces a prefab-ready structural model, with every check traceable to NBCC 2020 and CSA O86-24.

Three tools

  • Floor iterates NLT, DLT and CLT panel sections, checks bending, shear and deflection, and selects the smallest passing size. It emits a 3D preview solid and a full calculation report.
  • Roof runs a two-element finite-element check on roof panels.
  • Wall frames stud walls automatically, including door and window openings, ready for panelisation.

Workflow

Architectural drawings → structural drawings and model → shop drawings and CNC data (CADwork export) → factory panels → site assembly. Everything stays inside one BIM environment, with an engineer reviewing the results.

Floor Tool: NLT structural check

Floor Tool inputs

Floor Tool outputs

Status

In development. A public release is planned after the thesis defence, expected December 2026.