Construction of a hypar concrete shell using fabric and cable net formwork during workshop

This workshop was part of the Digital Tools—Parametric Design course at Chalmers University of Technology in 2023. The participants were students in the Architecture and Engineering program. The goal was to explore how one can use a cable net and fabric as formwork for curved shells. The theme of the workshop was based on the research performed at ETH

"Design process for prototype concrete shells using a hybrid cable-net and fabric formwork" by Veenendaal and Block https://brg.ethz.ch/

Workshop leaders were Emil Adies, Fredrik Boman, Erik Wigh and Chris Williams

The formwork was made during two days in December 2023, and the concrete casting was performed during one day in January 2024. Apart from the amazing students who were part of the workshop, we also want to thank those who have helped us with the planning and execution:

Lars Adiels, Arezou Babaahmadi, Sebastian Almfeldt, Philippe Block & Block Research Group, ETH Zurich, Anders Karlsson, Peter Bäckgren, Jacob Forsberg, Peter Lindblom, Tabita Nilsson, Oliveira Gonçalves, Emil Svedjer & Diederik Veenendaal.

Underside of formwork, showing the cable net and fabric

Sewing together the fabric for the formwork

The patches making of the fabric formwork

Casting of the concrete on top of the fabric formwork.