Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Article about Fabric formwork in Concrete Decor

I haven't really written much about fabric formwork in general... fortunately the North American forum Concrete Decor has decided to publish an article introducing the technology to its readers. I've supplied info and an image to the piece but I'm actually still not really sure who or what is behind Concrete Decor - but once on the site you can search for suppliers and techniques - so I guess it's like the Yellow Pages for business within decorative concrete. Read the article here.

The article features most of the researchers and builders I know of who have done research and built using fabric forming tecniques - it even introduces my 'ambiguous chairs'. Among the featured researchers is CAST, my first and largest source of inspiration in this field. Center of Architectural Structures and Technology which the abbreviation stands for has an extensively informed website here. 
[Image: Concrete columns cast in fabric formwork, Photo by CAST]

 [Image: Detail of a fabric formed wall designed by Japanese architect Kenzo Unno who has deviced building methods called "Unno Reinforced Concrete." Photo by Mark West]
Fabric formed concrete sinks
I am not very familiar with fabric formwork used for design objects. The application of flexible moulds for slender but small scale structures seems to hold many perspectives. An interesting example is Gore Design Co based in Arizona, USA, which has developed techniques for forming GFRC sinks that seem really cool.
[Image: sink cast in fabric formed moulds, photo from GoreDesign Co]

1 comment:

  1. Hello,

    Actually, the sink show is not a fabric-formed design, we machined it with a CNC. If you visit our website you will see many new fabric-formed pieces, especially under the "Furniture" heading. Thanks for posting!

    Brandon Gore
    www.goredesignco.com

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.