CCFF. Robotic Concrete Extrusion for Funicular Formworks

Abstract

Today architectural workflows for the development of complex geometries and their translation to physical objects rely on computational processes. The generation of form has become intrinsically tied to computer simulation in response to data sets and external information. Prior to the advent of these technologies, forms were generated and understood through analogue methodologies that depended on the behavior of the material in response to a set of physical conditions. The ambition of the research, ‘Catenary Concrete Funicular Formwork’ (CCFF), is to investigate hi/low tech possibilities for generating form and space at the interstices of the digital and the handmade. The study leverages the use of physical catenary and funicular modeling in conjunction with the precision of robotic concrete extrusion for the development of pattern-based thin concrete shells.