Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Formworks, Take 1.

FORMWORKS MUSINGS
Talene Montgomery
Spring 2013

Fabric formwork is an exciting field of exploration for both
its material effects and inherent structural properties. It
produces forms soft, sensual and bodily, taking advantage
of the liquid nature of concrete. Its surface is inherently
doubly-curved, determined by the elasticity of the fabric
membrane and the resisting armature provided. In
structural applications (Fatty Shell and Concrete Catenary,
for example) the catenary tendency of the material and
formwork can optimize structural forms. The process is
also cost effiicient, due to the low cost of the formwork
materials. Fabric formwork has the additional advantage of
allowing water and air to leech out, providing for a higher
surface quality than is possible with planar, rigid formwork.
One disadvantage of fabric formwork is its tendency for
creep – relaxation can occur due to the prestress in the
membrane. Furthermore, the formwork must be kept very
still during curing, and insulated to ensure proper curing
time.

While materially ‘intuitive’ in terms of finding optimal
catenary shapes, fabric formwork is highly amenable to
digital form finding methods. Achieving complex shapes with
parametric inputs is possible, but should be pursued with
the formwork’s ‘intuitive’ tendencies in mind.


http://www.fabricforming.org/membranemould/cases/papersICFF2012/KII.pdf

 

Miguel Fisac is acknowledged as the pioneer of flexible formwork. “The result that the weight of this soft material gives to the concrete when poured is real and effective, the concrete takes on the texture of the material, in a tactile way.” http://blog.alexwebb.com/?p=863



Suzanne Zottl, in an installation for Sci-Arc entitled A Styrofoam Lover with Emotions of Concrete, experiments with the process of casting. The material is a mixture of recycled styrofoam (for lightness and insulation) and cement. The potential of this technique was tested particularly with regard to its design options through the introduction of a latex membrane as one part of the mold. http://www.zottlbuda.at/



Kyle Sturgeon, Chris Holzwart, and Kelly Raczkowski (U.Michigan, 2010) constructed a fabric formwork structure titled Fatty Shell v.01. The team created this structure by pouring concrete between two sheets of rubber stitched together and tensioned with cables. The elasticity of the rubber and the locations of the sewing allows the concrete thickness to expand or contract in certain areas of the design, redefining its structural composition and integrity in real time. http://www.dezeen.com/2010/05/19/fattyshell-v-01-by-kyle-a-sturgeon-chris-holzwart-and-kellyraczkowski/



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