Dynamic Casting: Using Deployable Fabric Formwork

Abstract

The utilization of fabrics as formwork can facilitate a certain degree of flexibility in design, particularly when combined with deployable structures. Regarding this statement, the aim of this study is to explore the potential of a fabric formwork with deployable structure principles to prevent rigidity in the casting process. The deployable approach combined with fabric contributes to the study by allowing various configurations and reusability. A design-led methodology is adapted during this exploration based upon five phases: (1) crease pattern selection, (2) digital pattern creation, (3) deployable fabric formwork construction, (4) casting the concrete, and (5) comparing the physical model to computational model. Various models and mediums are used to examine the form behaviors along with the material relationship to highlight the collaboration between tools and craft to achieve a common goal. Therefore, the utilization of digital mediums is expected to improve the understanding of such a complex system as a dynamic mold fed by interdependent parameters. The results comparing the digital simulations and the several attempts to create the casting products displayed similar, if not identical, attributes. The differences between these models depend on the properties of the selected materials for both the deployable skeleton and the fabric.