C-Lith: Carbon Fiber Architectural Units (2015)
article⁄C-Lith: Carbon Fiber Architectural Units (2015)
abstract⁄CLITH is the reconsideration of the architectural building unit through the exploration of new composite techniques and materials. Our project develops individual compo nents that exploit the strength, lightness, and variability possible with carbon ber laments when paired with computation, digital fabrication, and hand assembly. Traditionally, architectural units made of brick or concrete are small and multiple, heavy, dif cult to vary, and are much better in compression than tension. Using carbon ber laments to create variable units allows for larger individual units that can vary in both shape and structural performance as needed. Our units, developed through winding prepreg carbon ber tow around disposable molds, bene t structurally from the quasiisotropic properties that are developed through the winding patterns. The specific structural capacities of the units remain to be understood through further testing and analysis, which falls outside the scope of this current research. At this junction, structural capacities have been determined empirically, i.e. will it stand Most importantly, as a formal study, our units address the use of carbon ber at the scale of architectural production. A majority of the effort involved in materializing CLITH was the development of a twofold prototypical manufacturing process that produces the components and assembly. For this we invented a method to quickly and cheaply construct variable cardboard molds that could withstand the wound casting and baking steps, but could also be easily weakened through water immersion to be removed. For the assembly we developed a rigid dummyjig system to hold the joint plates in position with a high level of precision but could also incrementally absorb the adjustment errors unavoidable in hand assembly systems. Using a simple pin connection the resultant structures can be easily disassembled for transportation and reassembly elsewhere.
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| Year |
2015 |
| Authors |
Wilcox, Glenn; Trandafirescu, Anca. |
| Issue |
ACADIA 2105: Computational Ecologies: Design in the Anthropocene |
| Pages |
69-79 |
| Library link |
N/A |
| Entry filename |
c-lith-carbon-fiber-architectural-units |
