The MAKING OF CONCRETE POETRY
Mariana Popescu: 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
