Author(s): Kristopher Palagi
Concrete formwork is expensive. Within residential construction, the wood installed, shed and discarded compounded by the exhaustive cost of labor, make casting even a simple straight wall insurmountable. Regardless of the number of sustainable practices thrown at it — engineered, reclaimed, recycled — to attempt a novel form becomes an unjustifiable venture. Moving away from wood, prefabricated formwork can minimize the cost but drags along baggage of its own. Metal panels demand a strict adherence to standardization for efficiency, while foam blocks only allow the structural integrity to blend with heavenly thermal results by completely masking the poetics of a concrete finish. And digital fabrication’s tolerances shine bright but we are lying to ourselves if we believe it will illuminate the other 99% of construction. Principally, this project aims to develop a reusable formwork assembly for casting in place concrete walls with structural capacities. Additionally, the system is challenged to pair limitless formal variations with minimally skilled labor.
Volume Editors
Luis Francisco Rico-Gutierrez & Martha Thorne
ISBN
978-1-944214-07-4