Urban Curtain is a small, free standing structure that has the replicates qualities of fabric, but the solidity of concrete. Like a curtain, the structure screens, shades, and shelters space. It is constructed from precast concrete blocks formed with a dynamic mold of custom-formed elastomer sheets. The whole structure is cast from this single dynamic mold. Urban Shell we are exploring a design space defined by a robotic mold which actuates the elastomer sheets on a tilting table, allowing for a range of components types and assembly formations. The test application for this study is the construction of a load-bearing shell. These projects aim to redress approaches to complex form which result in the wasteful use of material or high energy throughput due to intensive material formation for complex molds. Instead, it achieves complex form through a simultaneously provisional and precise casting strategy as an example of dexterity in construction. A combination of line-type, point-type, and volume-type casting methods were applied to achieve specific goals in an intentionally developed design process. The project was conducted in partnership with a precast concrete producer who provided material, engineering, space and materials and methods support.1
1 Forren, James. Intelligent Systems and Mass Production of Form: Tactic and Explicit Information in Dynamic Concrete Molds. Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia, 2019