Fabric and frames are essential components for fabric formwork. Fabric contains earth, and frames assist fabric in standing while controlling fabric’s bulging. Through the construction process, the FRE’s form is shaped clearly reflecting materials’ movement. Therefore, fabric formwork serves a design role beyond a construction purpose.
I have built a diverse shape of rammed earth with fabric formwork using local materials. For frames for formwork, I have used steel reinforcement bar, bamboo, and plywood, I have discovered that they are like stamps deeply engraving their material’s property on rammed earth.
The left image shows sharp and wide grooves on rammed earth wall. The clear mark was imprinted by 14mm-thickness plywood. The plywood aided in creating curved section when I built a dome shaped doghouse. On the other hand, the rammed earth models of the middle and right images were built with steel reinforcement bar and bamboo respectively. Because the frames have a rounded section, their marks are relatively well matched with the undulated rammed earth form. But if you examine the images carefully, steel reinforcement bars left thinner and light indentation than bamboo. That is because the steel bars were slimmer than bamboo. Steel reinforcement bar’s diameter was 12mm, and the bamboo thickness was varying around 20mm-30mm. The examples clearly demonstrate how fabric formwork can serve both construction and aesthetic roles, sparking design potentials in fabric formwork.
The more information about each rammed earth model can be found below.
The update of my blog post is shared on my Instagram or Facebook Page
Comments