Fabrics have particular material qualities, ranging across aesthetic values to unique structural capacities. At the basis of this research stands the term Fabric Materiality (FM), coined to represent the totality of qualities, attributes and techniques associated with fabric materials, which potentially interface between disciplines as a basis for transfer of technologies. Applied to the field of architectural FRP, its integration in design and fabrication is expected to remove current barriers for wider architectural application, tightly linked to the reliance on moulds. Following prior experimentation with FM integration in linear elements, this paper describes its potential in FRP surface elements, obtaining stiffness and introducing three-dimensional articulation by fabric manipulation and self-organisation. A multi-layered surface element is outlined, as a porous matter-structure of partial lamination, to potentially be resilient architectural skin.

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When: September 2020

Where: IASS annual conference , Hamburg, Germany