Preliminary assessment of environmental performance of ice formwork production method for irregular architectural elements of concrete

The present article communicates knowledge in sustainability of a method of digital fabrication in precast concrete production. The method, known as Ice Formwork, serves in production of ultrathin lightweight architectural elements – a novel design typology that has emerged with the development of High-Performance Fibre-Reinforced Concrete (HPFRC), and helps to reduce cement consumption, adopt digital fabrication processes, and increase design flexibility. In practice, however, this production employs suboptimal methods of mould-making, using petrochemical or engineered wood products for single-use moulds, entailing excessive amounts of non-recyclable waste. The current work builds on the research and development of a novel production method Ice Formwork facilitated through single-use moulds made of artificially frozen water. Previously published work on the subject has covered topics such as cement hydration at subfreezing temperature, subtractive digital processing of ice and a case of practical application illustrated with the production of a prototype of a lightweight façade rain screen. Yet, since artificial refrigeration and processing of large amounts of water is essential for Ice Formwork production, the environmental performance of this method requires a thorough examination. Thus, the current piece of work attempts to address two major issues, namely: (1) Energy consumption of industrial refrigeration in production of Ice Formwork. (2) Changes in water mineral content after a cycle of Ice Formwork concrete production. For both topics, the research work required development of an original experimental methodology. This aspect has been given the great attention and required development of new technical solutions on many levels. Further research and development is needed to come to a comprehensive environmental assessment, and the results of the current study merely provide a preparatory overview that can help to orient and properly set the objectives for the following research stages.