John Angus
Digital made concrete: Novel formliner creation and high definition production systems for low relief precast and glass reinforced concrete facias
Close up of facia on Nottingham Contemporary
The project
Caruso St John Architects won the commission for the Nottingham Contemporary Arts Centre. Their facia design required the use of Victorian lace at an enlargement of 1000% embossed in low relief repeat into structural concrete panels around the building.
John Angus, an expert in creative technologies at the University of Derby, proposed that a digital method of fabricating the positive master might be developed that would output a high-definition mould without undercut regions - a prohibitive factor in more traditional methods.
At the University, intense experimentation was undertaken with software applications, digital devices & materials to arrive at the unprecedented method. The development was informed by continual dialogue with Trent Concrete Ltd. and the architects in order to prove the hypothesis and to optimise the invention for practical implementation. The HD mould experimentation was matched by Trent Concrete with unique developments in self-compacting and release formulations for the concrete casting. The company also devised bespoke methods for the safe handling and installation of the HD panels. The acclaimed lace facia is now installed on this landmark development, pioneering a new era of photo-realistic architectural surfaces.
Impact
As a result of the media visibility of the project with the Nottingham Contemporary, the University was invited by Barratt East London and GRCUK Ltd. to develop an additional digital realisation system for figurative relief spray moulds for glass reinforced concrete (GRC). Due to the specialised methods of fabricating this material by spray-layering wet concrete and glass fibres, the prerequisites of the formliner master are radically different to those for pre-cast concrete - except in respect of demanding equally high resolution: 500 -1200 dpi.
Additional novel factors in the experimentation related to the stylised, rather than photographic, nature of the imagery and to the obligation to generate a mould that allowed seamless repeat extension up to the maximum of 3 x 1.5 metres required by the architects of the Canada Water development. Hundreds of cladding panels with a maple leaf design are currently in production in Sheffield or on site at Maple Quays, opposite Canary Wharf. The production run will take 4 months and constantly employ 15 - 20 personnel.
John has been invited to present his innovative work at international symposiums relating to both to architectural surfaces and to laser usage within the spectrum of manufacturing design (www.cuttingedgesymposium.com/artist-presentations).
The collaboration between the University and Trent Concrete was shortlisted for Innovation Achieved in the Lord Stafford Awards 2009.
