The MAKING OF CONCRETE POETRY
Mariana Popescu: Knitted Formworks for
Complex Concrete Structures
Lecture by Mariana Popescu, Block Research Group, ETH Zürich "Knitted Formworks
for Complex Concrete Structures“
The Department of Building Construction cordially
invites to the next lecture series The MAKING OF CONCRETE POETRY
1. Lecture by Mariana Popescu, Block Research
Group, ETH Zürich
"Knitted Formworks for Complex Concrete Structures“
KnitCandela is a thin, sinuous concrete shell
built on an ultra-lightweight knitted formwork, jointly designed and developed by Zaha Hadid Architects and Block Research
Group (BRG) of ETH Zurich.
It is a homage to the famous Spanish-Mexican shell builder Félix
Candela (1910 - 1997). KnitCandela reimagines his spectacular concrete shells through the introduction of novel computational
design methods and the KnitCrete formwork technology. With this cable-net and fabric formwork system, expressive, freeform
concrete surfaces can now be constructed efficiently, without the need for complex moulds. KnitCandela’s thin, doubly-curved
concrete shell with a surface area of almost 50 m2 and weighing more than 5 tonnes, was applied on a KnitCrete formwork of
only 55 kg. The knitted fabric of the formwork system was brought to Mexico from Switzerland in a suitcase.
Mariana Popescu
is an architect with a strong interest in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials. She
received Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in architecture from the Delft University of Technology. As a PhD researcher at the
Block Research Group and part of the NCCR Digital Fabrication, a core value of her doctoral research is to apply efficiency
in terms of materials, labour, cost, and time to address the problem of expensive and materially inefficient formworks in
construction.
Currently, she is a Postdoctoral researcher at the Block Research Group continuing the research on Lightweight
Flexible formworks within the NCCR Digital Fabrication.
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Upcoming
Lectures „Making of… Concrete Poetry"
14.11.2019
H36, A Monolithic insulating Concrete House, Stuttgart
Matthias Bauer, Stuttgart
11.3.2020
MUCEM Marseille, Ultra-High Performance Concrete
Romain Ricciotti,
Lamoureux & Ricciotti Ingénierie
22.4.2020
Infra-Light Ultra-Structural Concrete Tower, Berlin
Frank Barkow, Barkow Leibinger Architekten, Berlin
