Formworks Spring 2013: Formworks

New Space Through Plasticity

Miguel Lantigua

Spring 2013

The inauguration of concrete casting through rigid formwork techniques in itself radically altered the construction industry, consequently a large sum of the architecture produced, especially in the latter half of the 19^th and early 20th century since the rediscovery of concrete. Indeed the adaptation of this building material inevitable attributed to the proliferation of concrete architecture. Despite its revolutionary break through, techniques in formwork construction had not remained natural. Fabric formwork, which one can argue as the second most critical phase of the material’s development, is a building technique which deploys the use of structural membranes, that is, fabric, as a means to generate concrete components through the molding process. Yet while such transition/ method of formwork drastically alters the image and possibilities in the use of concrete, what remains consistent between rigid and the flexibility that is fabric formwork is its fast production, economics, and manipulation opportunities. However, it is critical to not fancy formwork techniques ‘merely’ per its economic qualities, rather what makes this method of construction so appealing is the opportunity to use the plasticity of concrete, which in the case of fabric formwork, is enhanced in possibilities made by the inherent properties of fabric, to generate dynamic forms and spaces previously unconceivable and achievable in rigid formwork techniques.

Fabric formwork finally allows us to ‘further’ apply conceptual architectural approaches, particularly those which deal with more relatable spaces, by allowing concrete to be as free as it truly is, that is, its ability to take any shape, rather than be confided to rigid boarders which lake the reliability to us, specifically the complexity that is our bodies. In a nutshell, formwork in general should not be deployed on the mere basis of its fast pace economic qualities. More than this, ‘fabric’ formworks unlike the limitations of metal, wood, and brick construction, which are rigid components, allows us to contribute to how we generate space through reinventing how ways of producing both conceptual and structural systems.

The following projects, accompanied with links, are in support of the above argument, in fact, deploying the very conceptual and structural notions mentioned. Please do look into this further and learn of the space and conceptual possibilities made possible by fabric formworks:

Note: Image captions are of the project's author

This first project inspired by Eadward Muybridge, explores the role of the human body in the formation of space through the use of concrete fabric formworks, that is, first recording the movement of bodies in space.

Excerpt: : The idea of physically recording the movements of a body within a space spawned a series of photographic studies using motion-capture photography pioneered by Eadward Muybridge. Combining these methods with more recent digital technology helped record and map how the body occupies an interstitial space. The actions of sleeping, walking and sitting within a defined space were recorded in plan and elevation with a camera. Combining the individual frames into a composite image manifested the ghost of the space once occupied by the body.

Program sequence of interstitial space in plan

Flexible fabric formwork mechanism

Internal walkthrough of the defined interstitial space

Output of concrete panels created by the machine

This second project asks the question of: what a beam and column could become. A beam needn’t be joined to a column as two individual pieces, could they be cast as a single element using sewing to stitch and shape the formwork using sleeves?

In which they explored the possiblities of: a more rational form might result if each element was cast together as a single entity using the qualities of the fabric to dicate the form. Our joint was made in the formwork itself.

Project link: http://richardbush.wordpress.com/