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Impressions of Formwork

standaman

What buildings or artwork come to mind when you think of 'imprints' or 'impressions' made in a poured and solidified material (e.g. concrete, metal, etc) by its formwork. Do you know of any provocative cases where the end product reflects more of what used to be there than what remains? Rather than the typical traces of tiebars and such, I'm interested in unconventional, yet intentional impressions and palimpsests that recall unusual textures, materialities, or even intimate stories of what no longer is.

 
Mar 17, 07 1:30 am
holz.box

the in situ concrete wall along the walk to the konferenzpavilion @ vitra (tadao ando) has leaves impressed into the concrete.

the tour guide said the leaves weren't cleaned out of the formwork (uh, ok) but i talked to the preoject architect, and he verified that wasn't true.

wouldn't divulge the mix, though.



Mar 17, 07 4:19 am  · 
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i sorta like the formwork itself:



Mar 17, 07 7:14 am  · 
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snooker

I understand each individual rock was wrapped in newspaper and wired into the form work and then the wall was poured. Once the
form work was removed the wall was hosed down and the face of the stone revealed. I recall being in one of the Homes Wright Designed in the subdivision adjacent to the Biltmore Hotel and you could see the ink from the newpaper still embellishing the face of the stone.

Mar 17, 07 10:17 am  · 
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snooker

If you travel to this site you should take note of the hammer embedded on the gate wall. Mr. Wright referred to this act as
"A monument to an idiot."

Mar 17, 07 10:19 am  · 
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Mar 17, 07 3:51 pm  · 
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a-f

Some of Miguel Fisac's projects have very elaborate formwork of sandbags and textile materials:

Mar 18, 07 8:15 am  · 
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FRO

a-f that is beautiful

Mar 18, 07 2:01 pm  · 
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a-f

It's great stuff yes! There is not much about him on the web, but try to get hold of this book:

Mar 18, 07 7:42 pm  · 
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aseid

there was a reading i was checking out, many ideas regarding fabric formwork at the university of manitoba by mark west

i think this link might start you off

fabric formwork

Mar 18, 07 10:51 pm  · 
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aseid

i think the other one was called "elastic behavior in a moist environment"

pretty cool stuff

Mar 18, 07 10:55 pm  · 
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standaman

wow some great tips. I'll look into all this.

Mar 19, 07 1:33 am  · 
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holz.box

ando's azuma house in osaka - the concrete seems to have a slight bulging effect (as if the concrete was cast in paper)

not to mention, one of the better projects he's done.

Mar 19, 07 2:48 am  · 
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is it common is other places for a water barrier usually made of clear plastic to be placed on the formwork prior to pouring??Well...usually it leaves the impression of concrete being "flung on plastic" Image to come. I promise. Its far less elegant that a-f's example

Mar 19, 07 3:18 am  · 
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holz - I always figured the bulge was because ando hadn't "perfected" insitu and the necessary bracing - why some of his later work was limited to 2 panel or 2m pours at time. Discuss?

Mar 19, 07 3:22 am  · 
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holz.box

maybe.
i tend to think that he wanted it to feel loose, like it was cast on tatami or something. that it was intentional, i don't see him making that kind of error by any means, the picture doesn't show it too well, but i've got a photo, and the ties are dimpled by a few mm, it seemed too intentional, or if it was accidental, it has a really nice effect. also, the tie spacing isn't that large, so you'd think the contractor would have had sized the whalers without any problem.

it's noticeable on other projects (the house w/ curved walls done a few years later) but has disappeared by vitra.

Mar 19, 07 3:34 am  · 
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standaman

Beautiful.
architechnophilia, your first image seems to be broken. What was it?

Mar 19, 07 4:05 am  · 
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Katze

not sure why architech's image is not posting to this thread...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/97758470@N00/223854890/

Mar 19, 07 4:54 am  · 
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spark

the new Indianapolis Public Library features potato chip bags and soft drink cans cast into the concrete of the parking garage structure

and

they left the rebar exposed so it could be seen and experienced as part of the design

Mar 19, 07 12:17 pm  · 
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stolen images do that at times...try this

Mar 19, 07 12:17 pm  · 
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freq_arch

look at the war museum recently completed in Ottawa.
Some great concrete there.

Mar 19, 07 4:30 pm  · 
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whistler

Corb's monastary ( La tourette ? sorry I don't remember the name ) but the story goes that to acheive the breton brute quality of the board formed concrete he requested the worse concrete trades in the region because he wanted the concrete to ooze through the boards and figured that poor tradesmen would allow the best effect.

The Canadian War Museum is very good, I agree I visited it last summer, good selection of tanks too.

Mar 19, 07 4:58 pm  · 
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Sarah Hamilton

Not a great architectural work, but there is a water tank, you know the large concrete drum kind, being built near me, and they took the form work off on Friday. Left behind this amazing corrugated effect since they used corrugated sheet metal to form it. I thought it was beautiful, but my husband thought it was an f-up. Sheesh, non-architects.

Mar 19, 07 5:11 pm  · 
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I like insisting on really ragged material for exposure concrete has this "quality" about it

Mar 19, 07 5:29 pm  · 
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freq_arch

Whistler, you don't happen to be part of the OAA do you?

Mar 20, 07 4:12 pm  · 
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weAREtheSTONES











Mar 20, 07 7:30 pm  · 
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aseid

those shots of brion are killing me here, just came back from 4 months in italy and im so freaking missing the north

bummer

Mar 20, 07 9:53 pm  · 
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