PROTOTYPE. Cast Concrete Strategies and Fabric Formwork for Construction Waste Reduction

Abstract This article addresses explorations of the digital world through the physical world by conducting experiments to reach prototypes that test the aspect of waste reduction and material technology within the design process. Choosing concrete as a material of investigation, and molding techniques as the starting point for explorations of the construction process, it introduces the concepts of prototypes and demonstrators in this practice-based research. The article presents a series of experiments testing material performance and construction techniques, and their impact on a digital model. The last section demonstrates the logic extracted from these experimental investigations to propose a 1:1 scale demonstrator that results from the prototypes and aims at reducing construction waste through investigating techniques to create architectural elements. This novel method promotes possibilities for design research and fabrication techniques beyond producing a product according to predetermined specifications.