Today, the relationship between computational design and digital fabrication technologies has opened new opportunities in archi-tectural practice that are challenging the relation between the acade-mia and the industrial world. To investigate this condition, the ISCTE/IUL and FAUP created the Advanced Studies Course in Digi-tal Architecture (CEAAD) to promote design-based research focused in the way new technologies interfere in architectural forms, structures and materials. With this goal, it was established a partnership with the company Amorim Isolamentos S.A. to support investigations on their material – cork. In the end of the academic year, the company chal-lenged the CEAAD to design their Pavilion for the building construc-tion fair Concreta showing new architectural possibilities for their ma-terial. In this context, the present paper describes and illustrates the development of the Cork Vault Pavilion, from its conception to con-struction. Computational design and digital fabrication technologies were used not only as conception and materialization tools, but also as a medium to collaborate with the company’s staff. By describing this bi-directional dialogue between academia and the industry, this paper presents the Cork Vault Pavilion as an example of how productive research and innovation can be fostered from the exploration of design challenges and methodologies.

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Cork, Digital Fabrication, Parametric, Algorithm, Industry