Vanessa Costalonga Martins

Abstract

The building industry needs to innovate towards a more sustainable future and can do so through a combination of more renewable material choices and less wasteful fabrication processes. To address these issues, a hybrid material and fabrication system was developed using laminated timber veneer and natural fibre-reinforced composites (NFRPs), two materials that are leveraged for their potential of strategic material placement in additive processes towards programmed material behaviour and performance. The main contribution is in the hybrid fabrication approach, using thin, bent laminated veneer as an embedded frame for coreless filament winding of NFRP, which removes the need for temporary, wasteful formwork that is typically required to achieve structurally performative bent timber or FRP elements. Integrative methods are developed for the design, simulation, and fabrication of a rocking chair prototype that illustrates the architectural potential of the developed fabrication approach.

Abstract

It has become clear over the last decade that the building industry must rapidly change to meet globally pressing requirements. The strong links between climate change and the environmental impact of architecture mean an urgent necessity for alternative design solutions. In order to propose them in this project, two emergent fabrication techniques were deployed with natural fiber-reinforced polymers (NFRPs), namely tailored fiber placement (TFP) and coreless filament winding (CFW). The approach is explored through the design and prototyping of a stool, as an analogue of the functional and structural performance requirements of an architectural system. TFP and CFW technologies are leveraged for their abilities of strategic material placement to create high-performance differentiated structure and geometry. Flax fibers, in this case, provide a renewable alternative for high-performance yarns, such as carbon, glass, or basalt. The novel contribution of this project is exploring the use of a TFP preform as an embedded fabrication frame for CFW. This eliminates the complex, expensive, and rigid molds that are traditionally associated with composites. Through a bottom-up iterative method, material and structure are explored in an integrative design process. This culminates in a lightweight FlexFlax Stool design (ca. 1 kg), which can carry approximately 80 times its weight, articulated in a new material-based design tectonic.

Abstract

Driven by the ecological crisis looming over the 21st century, the construction sector must urgently seek alternative design solutions to current building practices. In the wake of emergent digital technologies and novel material strategies, this research proposes a lightweight architectural solution using natural fiberreinforced polymers NFRP, which elicit interest for their inherent renewability as compared to highperformance yarns. Two associated fabrication techniques are deployed tailored fiber placement TFP and coreless filament winding CFW, both favored for their additive efficiencies granted by strategic material placement. A hypothesis is formed, postulating that their combination can leverage the standalone complexities of molds and frames by integrating them as active structural elements. Consequently, the TFP enables the creation of a 2D stiffnesscontrolled preform to be bent into a permanent scaffold for winding rigid 3D fiber bodies via CFW. A proof of concept is generated via the smallscale prototyping and testing of a stool, with results yielding a design of 1 kg capable of carrying 100 times its weight. Laying the groundwork for a scaledup architectural proposal, the prototype instigates alterations to the process, most notably the favoring of a modular global design and lapped preform technique. The research concludes with a discussion on the resulting technoimplications for automation, deployment, material life cycle, and aesthetics, rekindling optimism towards future sustainable practices.