Spline : rethinking concrete in the digital era

Abstract

Curvature has always been present in architecture though largely explored for structural purposes. It can be found in Roman arches and domes, in the catenary vaults of Antoni Gaudí, and in the hyper paraboloid shells of Félix Candela, as the result of form-finding techniques. Questions of materiality arose parallel to the development of these techniques, enabling the common use of concrete. Concrete allowed for the production of custom stones and replaced traditional hand-carving methods of making. Concrete is one of the most ubiquitous materials in the built environment, yet it is often cast in orthogonal repeating parts. Why is such a supple and liquid material, capable of any form, limited to the conceptions of the industrial era? The building industry commonly assumes that formwork must be repeatable, yet the prevailing goal of the digital era is serial variability. Therefore, a gap exists between the goals of the computational revolution and the standards of material production. This research states that it is possible to reconsider the role of concrete in the digital era via the aid of robotic fabrication. If formwork is commonly informed by the goal of efficiency and economics, this research asks what emerges when it is informed by environmental, structural, or formal concerns. This thesis proposes a specific way of making that emerges from a computational understanding of spline geometries. The process allows the designer to materialize data into a complex geometry that has been programmed to perform one or more architectural parameters. Fabrication methodologies today are leading architects to reclaim the role of the masterbuilder. This thesis argues that designing and making are part of a single process. Architects should not design materially uninformed architectural spaces; rather, they should design through the making process while integrating geometrical and material concerns. Therefore, what kind of architecture emerges when the spline is foregrounded in a process of concrete construction?