KnitCandela

KnitCandela is a thin, sinuous concrete waffle shell. Built on an ultra-lightweight knitted formwork, which was brought from Switzerland to Mexico in two suitcases, KnitCandela demonstrates that employing a flexible cable-net formwork together with a knitted textile can cut down on material, labour, and construction waste, while simplifying and streamlining the construction process for sophisticated shapes in concrete. Realised with a state-of-the-art BIM approach using the computational framework COMPAS, the structural design, engineering, digital fabrication, and construction of KnitCandela were incredibly efficient. Its novel forming system allowed for a complex structural geometry requiring fewer materials, thus keeping project costs economical. Short credits: Block Research Group, ETH Zurich (BRG), Zaha Hadid Architects Computation and Design Group (ZHCODE), Architecture Extrapolated (R-Ex) Full credits link: http://block.arch.ethz.ch/brg/project/knit-candela-muac-mexico-city Photo credits: Mariana Popescu, Lex Reiter, Philippe Block, Angelica Ibarra, Maria Verhulst Credits: - Block Research Group, ETH Zurich (BRG) - Zaha Hadid Computation and Design Group (ZHCODE) - Architecture Extrapolated (R-EX)