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W. Hawkins, M. Herrmann, T. Ibell, B. Kromoser, A. Michaelski, J. Orr, R. Pedreschi, A. Pronk, H. Schipper, P. Shepherd, D. Veenendaal, R. Wansdronk, M. West:
"Flexible formwork technologies - a state of the art review";
Structural Concrete, Volume 17 (2016), 6; 911 - 935.

Concrete is the most widely used construction material. World-
wide consumption of cement, the strength-giving component in
concrete, is now estimated to be 4.10 Gt per year, having risen
from 2.22 Gt just 10 years ago. This rate of consumption means
that cement manufacture alone is estimated to account for 5.2 %
of global carbon dioxide emissions.
Concrete offers the opportunity to create structures with almost
any geometry economically. Yet its unique fluidity is seldom capi-
talized upon, with concrete instead being cast in rigid, flat moulds
to create non-optimized geometries that result in structures with
a high material usage and large carbon footprints. This paper will
explore flexible formwork construction technologies that em-
brace the fluidity of concrete to facilitate the practical construc-
tion of concrete structures with complex and efficient geome-
tries.
This paper presents the current state of the art in flexible form-
work technology, highlighting practical uses, research challeng-
es and new opportunities.

fabric formwork, flexible formwork, disruptive innovation, optimization, construction

http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/suco.201600117