Building Matters is a blog compiled around the wonderful experimental thesis work of permanent, flexible formwork of Allison Adderley, architecture student at the
University of Buffalo in the state of New York.
"Typically, formwork is understood as a temporary building element, often being discarded and seen only as a construction tool, rarely a component of the final design. This proposal explores the opportunity of employing formwork as a permanent building element, thus incorporating the formal elements inherent in building within the final form itself," Adderley
states [A very 'textile' formwork principle for a permanent formwork principle, "Flex Form"
via]
Some of Adderley's formwork principles are permanent, and some 'just' leaves a permanent, formal consequence of the construction principles behind the formwork structure. I share this interest with Adderley in
practices of molding and the relation between the mold and that which is molded. Basically, what I like to call
'formwork tectonics.'
Adderley introduces her abstract and theoretical
references, Gottfried Semper, Kenneth Frampton, and Gework Hartoonian, and how she uses these theories. In this sense, find inspiration in the blog as a nice way to present rigorous, experimental and poetic work.
Semper's theories of the transformation of textile principles to methods of 'weaving' and 'dressing' facades are evident in the above experiment.
There is also a nice
gallery of photos from a visit to the laboratory of
CAST at the University of Manitoba. Adderley is obviously inspired by the work at CAST but has found her own way of investigating the roles of the fabric in formwork for concrete.
[Formwork detail, Series3 - Permanent Fabric (Suspension)
via]
[Casting Series3 - Permanent Fabric (Suspension)
via]
A goal in the
abstract is to end the thesis work with a full scale cast, so more appears to come on the blog.
Allison, I hope to see you at the
ICFF2012 (World's Second International Conference of Fabric Formwork) in Bath, (UK) June 2012 :)