groups of people, from the architects to the clients, and from the inhabitants to any passersby. Buildings are designed to have a positive visual impact and studies have shown that people enjoy seeing natural forms and smooth curves – two things that fabric formwork offers. However, I would say that this benefit is not as significant as improved functionality, as it is not technically necessary for a building to be beautiful, whilst it is most definitely necessary for a building to be strong and capable of load-bearing. Additionally, beauty is entirely subjective and therefore, while I believe that most people would find fabric formed concrete structures more visually appealing, there will be people who may not like the look of it and who prefer the straight lines and solid appearance of traditionally formed concrete.Therefore, while it could be beneficial to multiple groups of people, I do not think it is as significant a benefit as either sustainability or function. Finally, I would say that the least significant benefit is the decreased costs that fabric formwork could, in theory, help create. By cutting out unnecessary concrete material – something fabric formwork caters towards – this method of casting could help lower the material cost used per projects. If this successfully reduced costs by a notable factor, I think it would be highly beneficial to both the clients and the contractors, as keeping project costs down is a benefit that impacts most of the people who are closely involved in the project. However, I would say that this is not as significant a benefit as I initially expected it to be. On paper, it sounds viable, however fabric moulds can be more expensive than their plastic counterparts, (while still often cheaper than using other reusable moulds, such as wooden planks). Additionally, I find it important to recognise that fabric casting concrete is a new process to the majority of construction workers, and therefore training is often required.The cost, both monetary and, regarding time, of organising and completing this training, could possibly negate any material spend reductions brought on by the decreased mass of concrete needed. Since I have also found that maintenance costs are not particularly affected by concrete casting, cost, in my opinion, is impacted the least by fabric formwork, and so is the least significant benefit.
However, I believe it is important to point out that these benefits are not standalone in nature, nor is it necessary for architects to pick just one to apply to their structures.There is a significant overlap between many of the benefits – some directly follow on from others, such as a greater compressive strength allowing less concrete to be used per structure, and therefore less concrete being produced, which leads to lower emissions and a lower cost.With quality design and careful consideration, all of these benefits can be incorporated into a structure through the utilisation of fabric formwork. This being said, I would still personally consider the sustainability benefits enabled by fabric formwork to be the most notable benefit, as it holds greater implications. While it could be argued that some of the other merits of fabric formwork would have a greater impact on each structure, I believe that the implicit environmental benefits that fabric formwork could create are simply more important when taking into account the serious nature of the context of our current world.
“Recycling one tonne of concrete could save 6,182 litres of water and 900kg of CO2”
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