Tailored Flexibility: Reinforcing concrete fabric formwork with 3D printed plastics

The tailored flexibility project seeks to develop a
construction system that combines flexible formwork with robotic
3D plastic printing resulting in novel approaches that expand the
ranges of both techniques. Combining 3D printing and flexible
formwork does not necessarily suggest a unified design space and the
development depends on thorough interrogation and critical assessment
of the physical intelligence that emerge between digital design,
manufacturing processes and structural integrity. This paper describes
the initial prototyping of compound material behaviour in formwork and
concrete, following the implicit rationales revealed through iterations
and variations of physical experimentation. Such iterative feedback
from physical prototyping informs and facilitates a discussion of the
relationship between manufacturing process and design tool: How
does the ultimate function as concrete shuttering transform the 3D
printing process and how does this transformation conversely affect the
shuttering design? How does a hierarchy of involved processes emerge
and which composite opportunities do the initial results suggest as a
further development into a coherent construction system?