Comments on: The next nature of concrete

By: TFO

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 15:46:00 +0000

Ahhh…I see you points. Cool. In some respects, it would be nice to ennoble the lowly building skin yet again and it could offer some redundancy that antiquated construction methods (I’m really thinking of stick-frame construction from the late 19th and early 20th C. in the U.S.) previously did…. But I totally see how you are able to address the issues holistically within the same system. Thanks!

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By: WMVazquez

Tue, 11 Feb 2014 03:29:00 +0000

Since the inception of the research in 2008, several concepts has been studied and considered in order to design a novel but realistic structural system. Structural system of the human body is a combination of the muscles and the skeleton, in fact it could be compared to a tensegrity structure. Thus, the original approach included some steel cables as muscles wrapping the concrete frame and, thereby maintaining the posture and integrity of the building frame during lateral loads. Also, damping joints were considered but changing their position in the frame according to the concentration and channeling of forces. Then we argued, why couldn’t we design a structural frame with all those structural and mechanical benefits embedded in the material itself? Bones have already tensile principles and damping features that can be extrapolated into an improved building skeleton. Instead of separating all those features in different systems and technologies, current research is based on a single material that changes its mechanical properties and functions along the frame.

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By: TFO

Mon, 10 Feb 2014 12:11:00 +0000

Interesting article. Gaudi immediately comes to mind, even if his forms were the result of different rationale. Further it reengages a centuries-old dialog about the image of man and the body in architecture but extends it beyond mapping/planimetric and proportional systems.

I’d like to see the analogy extended to include the muscular systems and their role in supporting/stabilizing the skeleton. We all know that with poor muscle strength, bone will tend to grow improperly, developing bone spurs and the like…leading to arthritis, pinched disks, etc. Chiropractors will argue for adjustments to the spine to sort out issues of trauma. Physical Therapists argue for the manipulation of muscle. I think what would be valuable is to integrate/develop a sheathing that works in partnership with the building frame. Of course you could go mad: then what is the cartilage, etc.? Neoprene spacers? Shear blocks?

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