Summer
Show
2022
Show
2022
24
November
18:00 SAST
November
18:00 SAST
Retrofitting Pneumatics in the Built Environment
Folded edge balloon inflation. Chetty, N. Unit 17. 2021.
Nieka Chetty
BArch 2021Supervisors:
Unit Leader: Gregory Katz
Unit Tutor: Jaco Jonker
Unit Assistant: Senzo Mamba
UNIT 17︎︎︎
To Be Orna-ment To Be
The aim of this project was to explore the capabilities of pneumatic structures when retrofitted into the built environment. By retrofitting pneumatics with their highly flexible nature, multiple spatial interventions or arrangements could be produced, making once unusable or dormant spaces, versatile and multi-purposed, in the efforts to regain functional capacity of underutilised space or building.
Pneumatics hence offer us the possibility to analyse buildings that were not originally designed for versatility and to retrofit pneumatic structures to allow them to be occupied in ways that provide more multisensory experiences.
Pneumatic structures can also alter the physical environment including temperature and light penetration of a space, depending on the characteristics of the membrane itself (such as opacity and conductive properties). By placing folds and seams in different places of the inflatable membrane one can produce a multitude of different forms or arrangements as each seam manipulates the movement of air and would allow the membrane to crease, fold or curve in a designed manner to create a desired space.
Pneumatic structures also offer sustainability benefits by providing an alternate solution for redirecting a highly produced greenhouse gas, and repurposing it to inflate the structures. Pneumatics in addition to PVC, Nylon and ETFE, can use sustainable or recycled plastics that could be used as the membrane of the structure, including starch-based polymers, PLA polyesters, PHA polyester and others. These sustainable materials can further be incorporated into social housing projects that can produce an intermediate solution that may allow for the production more dense structures that could be used as housing in vulnerable communities.
Pneumatics hence offer us the possibility to analyse buildings that were not originally designed for versatility and to retrofit pneumatic structures to allow them to be occupied in ways that provide more multisensory experiences.
Pneumatic structures can also alter the physical environment including temperature and light penetration of a space, depending on the characteristics of the membrane itself (such as opacity and conductive properties). By placing folds and seams in different places of the inflatable membrane one can produce a multitude of different forms or arrangements as each seam manipulates the movement of air and would allow the membrane to crease, fold or curve in a designed manner to create a desired space.
Pneumatic structures also offer sustainability benefits by providing an alternate solution for redirecting a highly produced greenhouse gas, and repurposing it to inflate the structures. Pneumatics in addition to PVC, Nylon and ETFE, can use sustainable or recycled plastics that could be used as the membrane of the structure, including starch-based polymers, PLA polyesters, PHA polyester and others. These sustainable materials can further be incorporated into social housing projects that can produce an intermediate solution that may allow for the production more dense structures that could be used as housing in vulnerable communities.
Keywords:
Pneumatic, Retrofit, Sustainable
Pneumatic, Retrofit, Sustainable
Contact
Nieka Chetty:
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