Stitch by stitch: knitting as ornamentation, form and formwork
Publicerad
Författare
Typ
Examensarbete för masterexamen
Master's Thesis
Master's Thesis
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
A big shift in the building industry must
be made due to climate change. Doubly
curved geometry in architecture are often a
result of structural optimization, and can be
made with material efficient constructions of
reinforced concrete. These geometries could
therefore be used to decrease the building
industry’s impact on the environment.
Unfortunately, they are both expensive and
often built with material intensive structural
solutions.
KnitCrete is a formwork system which has the
potential of drastically reduce the amount of
concrete and single-used formwork material.
By tensioning knitted textile against a
supporting falsework, it can be used as a
stay-in-place mold for casting.
This thesis investigate fiber in architecture
through the principles of KnitCrete. It
explores the design possibilities of the
method with an aim to understand how
knitting, form and ornamentation can
interact in an architectural design. The focus
lies in how the knitting’s inherent properties
and attributes can be used as a design
tool when using the KnitCrete method. The
possibilities and limitations with knitting is
the core and framework for this thesis.
The explorations are divided in two parts.
The first part is investigating the potential
of ornamentation in a knitted structure and
the second part explores the possibilities of
creating form with the knitted fabric. This
form searching resulted in various models.
Through hands on explorations, I have
showed that the color of yarn and coating,
how the knitting is tensioned, size of the
cavities, choice of knitting pattern and
where you choose to place increases and
decreases determine how the final visual
expression will be. Lace knitting patterns
have been of special interest since they are
created by alternating smaller and bigger
cavities. These patterns not only create an
ornamentation, but also gives the surface a
varying texture when coated.
In order to approach KnitCrete in practice,
the explorations were combined in to a
pavilion. In this work, the complexity of
creating a knitting pattern from a large
bespoke, doubly-curved geometry become
evident. This process must be simpler if
KnitCrete is to be used as an effective
construction technique in the future.
Beskrivning
Ämne/nyckelord
KnitCrete, Doubly-curved geometry, Lace knitting pattern