Soft(ware) cast

Concrete in itself is a highly flexible material due to its liquid state. The use of fabric formed framework for concrete has many possibilities and opportunities. Fabric has the ability to be pulled, folded and shaped in a very dynamic way in order to create a multitude of complex geometries and shapes. Flexible fabric formwork is a construction method instead of being just a structural typology. The shape of such form active structures is not known in advance and requires formfinding and optimisation in order to avoid any bending and structural instabilities. Recent  advances in computational formfinding allows us to utilise computer simulations in order to investigate and optimise fabric formed concrete through the use of dynamic relaxation, genetic algorithms and finite element analysis.