Venice Hospital: Generative Formwork

Concrete formwork is the oft-invisible figural negative to the concrete objects we know and love. While some architects succeed in allowing this object of formation to remain legible in the final product, the formwork marks are more often plastered over, sealed, hidden as carefully as possible, erasing the process from the final object.

This series of details stemmed from the desire to turn site-cast concrete formwork from something which is ritually obfuscated after its primary function is complete into an organizational datum which facilitates multiple processes after the concrete has cured and the form been removed.

Functionality prior to pouring: reducibility of form to the batter pile detail, to which the formwork attaches.

During pouring: functions as shape giver, allowing for concrete finishes based on the various processes of construction required per detail (see finish studies)

After pouring: modular, user-reconfigurable wall partitions can be moved and attached

to the interior leavings of the formwork. Even after it has been removed, the formwork is functionally activated and an essential part of the architecture of the building.