The Reconfigurable Mold System (RMS) enables rapid, waste-free production of customized free-form facade panels by using a computer-controlled, shape-shifting silicone membrane and advanced optimization algorithms to create smooth, complex surfaces without traditional machining.
Organization
KAUST, Computational Sciences Group and TU Wien, Institut of Art and Design
Project information
The Reconfigurable Mold System (RMS) allows the production of mass-customized free-form facade panels quickly and with zero waste. The perfectly smooth silicone surface of the mold facilitates the easy pouring of concrete panels, molding of green fiber cement boards, creating reinforced laminates, thermoforming of PMMA/PC/PS/PVC panels, and 3D printing of panels from various materials. Unlike traditional mold making, our new fabrication process does not require the mold surface’s expensive, time-consuming, and wasteful machining from a block of material. The Reconfigurable Mold System changes the shape of the mold surface as required with the push of a button by simply imposing the correct boundary condition on the membrane.
We control the membrane shape by stretching it over four adjustable curves outside the panel surface. This process ensures a perfectly smooth panel but requires solving a very challenging inverse design problem. The link between the shape of these curves and the mold surface is very indirect and highly nonlinear. We developed the necessary simulation and optimization tools to find the curves corresponding to the shape of the panel to be produced.
At Future Facade, we demonstrate our fully functional computer-controlled small-scale prototype of the Reconfigurable Mold System. We also show a high-precision facade scale model, and if you have 15 minutes to spare, you can produce your own panel and take it home.
The Reconfigurable Mold System results from a research collaboration between computer scientists, mathematicians, and architects from KAUST, TU Wien, and the University of Toronto. You can find details on the simulation and optimization in our paper: Florian Rist, Zhecheng Wang, Davide Pellis, Marco Palma, Daoming Liu, Eitan Grinspun, and Dominik L. Michels. “A Flexible Mold for Facade Panel Fabrication.” ACM Transactions on Graphics (TOG) 43, no. 6 (2024): 1-16.
For more information on the Reconfigurable Mold System, please visit www.flexiblemold.com.