RotoForm is a procedure for the production of individualized form-active, hollow concrete building elements through a rotational casting, computational design and robot-aided fabrication. To rotoform an object, a small quantity of liquid material is cast into a mould that is then slowly rotated so that the material disperses along the mould surface. The material adheres to the formwork; an inner cavity emerges. This research exploits the significantly reduced hydrostatic pressure of the low amount of liquid material to unlock a new range of lightweight hyperelastic membranes as concrete formwork. The research yields a novel material system that consumes significantly less formwork material and less concrete. The research furthermore explores the morphological, visual and tactile performance provided by the minimal surfaces that emerge through prestressing (and not tailoring) the membranes and using them as a concrete formwork. The demonstrator of RotoForm Nodes uses the hollow objects as nodal connections of non standard space frames.
References
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[2] Vailly, T. , Ohaly, I. The creative Factory http://www.vailly.com/projects/the-creative-factory. As of 15. April 2015
[3] Sarafian, J., Culver, R., Lewis, Trevor S. Robotic Formwork in the MARS Pavilion: Towards The Creation of Programmable Matter. In ACADIA 2017: DISCIPLINES & DISRUPTION [Proceedings of the 37th ACADIA, Cambridge, MA 2-4, (2017) pp. 522- 53
