Coursework_California College of the Arts_MArch_Fall 2016
Instructor_Inaqui Carnicero

Combining the structural virtues of inflatable concrete formwork with contemporary interests in pop iconicity, this exploration into easily removable formwork generates complex interior space via playful boolean operations.

Traditionally inflatable formwork utilizes the tensile properties of a membrane against pressurizes air to generate structurally optimal geometries for large span domes. Here, the inflatable is twisted and manipulated into a standard legible balloon animal, repeated in excess and aggregated into a continuous form. The complex collection of inflated tubular geometries perform as a series of vaults, maintaining the structural optimization of inflated form, but providing the formwork for unexpected spatial quality.

Once cast, the formwork is easily removed from the interior by decompressing the membrane and removing the excess. The resulting interior space is a cavernous network of smooth, rounded pockets separated by the sharp edges formed withing the cleavages of the balloon animals. Where some of the inflated appendages press against the sides of the exterior formwork, apertures develop, which let light and views peak through the complex interiors.

From the exterior, the final architectural artifact is no longer remnant of the iconicity of the balloon animals that formed it, but instead reads as a picturesque folly with the landscape. The structure is peculiar in it’s ruinous image, yet inviting via its shy glimpses to an inner labyrinth.