A Variable Fabric and Wire Formwork System for Complex Concrete Panels: Reusable formwork solution from digital design to fabrication of full-scale prototypes

Research on flexible formwork for curved concrete panels has primarily focused on the fabrication of doubly curved surfaces. However, research on the reusable, flexible formwork for diverse ruled surfaces remains largely unexplored. Despite the widespread use of ruled surfaces in architectural concrete panels, most are still produced using CNC-milled rigid formwork. This method generates substantial construction waste and incurs significant time and cost, as each unique shape requires a corresponding rigid formwork. This paper introduces a novel Variable Fabric and Wire Formwork System to serve as an efficient and sustainable alternative to rigid formwork for fabricating complex architectural panels. The system integrates computational design to translate digital models into physical formwork configurations. Sequential mockups at ¼, ½, and full scales were conducted to validate its functionality, scalability, and adaptability. The results demonstrate that a single variable formwork system can efficiently produce various curved concrete panels, significantly reducing construction waste while enabling the repeated production of identical shapes. By addressing a critical gap in the application of existing adaptive fabric formwork, the Variable Fabric and Wire Formwork System expands the potential use of the fabric formwork, contributing to more sustainable concrete panel fabrication.