Fabric formwork - and Concretely in print

The editor-in-chief of the Danish Concrete trade magazine called "Beton", Jan Broch Nielsen,  is always very supportive in covering the workshops that I do. A full two pages made it to the latest issue of the magazine, #4- 2010

[The cover of the 4/2010 of Danish Concrete Trade magazine "Beton" (Concrete), image from website]

The headline of the article introduces this very blog to the readers of the magazine. Readers, to a high degree, work in the concrete industry on plants, or on construction sites as concrete workers, engineers etc. - If the article actually brings forth a new reader - welcome :)

The article mentions Butong as an example of the content of the blog. The post about Butong is here. And here's a more recent project.

[Image from fabric formwork workshop, Photo by: Balazs Jelinek]

Material culture workshop
Two thirds of the article is about the student workshop held with European architecture students in August, 2010, in the Danish island of Bornholm. I wrote about the pour day here.

Above image from the Erasmus summer school illustrates the article. The image shows to groups of students finishing the fabric formwork before the big pour that same morning. Unfortunately, the photographer wasn't credited. Balazs Jelinek took the picture.

Material Culture - World press

[Bornholms Tidende: "Hard concrete in new soft frames"]

Yesterday the workshop made it to an entire page in the regional newspaper Bornholm Tidende (Bornholm Journal). A wonderful piece of reporting that really makes the reader feel on site with the concrete pour the day before. I'm quoted about the wonders of fabric forming, and the local concrete truck driver, Flemming, is featured big time as well. It's just big, local news - and my mother will be very proud of the exposure.

I'm sure the article has been read by a lot of people - the next page was the football section with big news on the local teams.

A few days ago, another article featured the workshop as well - yay.

[Bornholms Tidende: "Kan beton være blødt"]

Material Culture - Pour day

[Image of a team after successful pour of one of their fabric formed concrete shell elements]

Just finished an exciting pour day in the Erasmus workshop I also wrote about here. The four formwork pieces constructed by students were filled with concrete from our sponsor, the local concrete factory.

Below are a few images from the stormy, yet sunny day.

[Team working on a 5 meter long fabric formed concrete wall. Only 5 cm at the most narrow point made pouring directly out of the truck impossible - in stead the wall was poured by hand]

[Image of fabric formed concrete wall after the pour. The turf pieces on top are from the lawn. Their function is to weigh down folded down fabric flaps on the top from flying away...]

[Team working down reinforcement into their concrete bridge, poured on site - the fabric formwork was constructed in sections off site and moved to the site]

[This an image of the last group's concept model - a 'wood shelter' in which the wood forms the interior space cast directly into the fabric form. Wedges placed between the logs makes it easier to remove the wood after the pour - or when it is to be used]

Material Culture - fabric formwork workshop

I've been busy the past week with an Erasmus summer school in the 'Material Culture' series, which has included workshops dealing with catalan vaults (Barcelona); bricks (Netherlands); wood (Norway) and stone masonry (Ireland). In Denmark the choice of a 'cultural' material was concrete - and I have been fortunate to be part of the planning of a workshop dealing with fabric formed concrete structures.

Tomorrow is the big pour day - and everything is wonderfully hectic and many things still to be resolved in the making - quite in the nature of the workshops. That you learn a lot of the material nature as you go along and do things.

The image above is from a crit. One team has the site of a ditch and is assigned to make a crossing. The installation is wonderful, discussing the spatial qualities to be obtained by placing objects that affords crossing and invites for actually inhabiting a space.

Of course we've done a lot of pouring as well - more pictures to come.

Best regards from Bornholm