The Natural Form of Concrete

Rome, Italy, 2018

Collaborators: Tullia Iori & Alberto Meda (Università di Roma Tor Vergata), Lukas Ingold & Joseph Schwartz (ETH Zurich)

Experimental construction was an essential feature of concrete structures until well into the interwar period. For a long time, the concrete skeleton (Hennebique system) dominated practice; however, casting as a new production method and the old construction form of beams were considered contradictory. Numerous designers developed new moulds based on practical production. One of the most pioneering construction methods was proposed by the Italian engineer Pier Luigi Nervi with his "Ferro-Cemento": Instead of formwork, the concrete was applied with trowels to wire mesh of any shape, which was attached to support bars. In this way, the reinforced concrete not only detached itself from the linear skeleton form but also from the rigid geometry of its formwork. The poured stone was seamless, its shape completely independent. Nervi used the very slender, specially shaped elements extremely cost-effectively as finished elements, as formwork or - most impressively - as lost formwork. Here, material, form, construction and architectural expression are inseparably linked. Some of the most important examples of this particular search for form were created in and around Rome in the post-war years.

During this workshop in Rome, we explored the nature of sculpted concrete. We studied the ferrocemento method by designing and producing seating objects in concrete ourselves. In just six days, the students from both Switzerland and Italy worked in teams to develop their own projects. First, they developed scale models and, in parallel, small material samples. Simple cardboard mock-ups were used to check the scale and usability. Then, within three days, the reinforcements were constructed, the concrete applied, and its surface refined. Finally, on the sixth day, all the objects were positioned on the University of Tor Vergata campus.

This workshop was part of a seminar trip by ETH Zurich.