In contemporary construction practice, building enclosures are sophisticated assemblies conceived through complex
processes that merge design, science, technology and craft. The outermost layer of the exterior wall is the most
exposed to natural forces and therefore it needs careful attention, as it must work effectively over the lifetime of the
building.

The primary goal of this semester-long fabrication seminar is the design and construction of full-scale precast concrete
prototypes as performative components of building envelopes. The course is taught at Washington University in St.
Louis (WashU) in partnership with Gate Precast, a leader company in the precast concrete industry and supported by
a grant from the PCI Foundation to offset fabrication costs of the mockups. This is an opportunity for hands-on
experience in which students are able to experience the entire design-build process. After conducting research and
analyzing historic and contemporary building precedents, students advance conceptual ideas through drawings and
study models, followed by a precise documentation of the panel and molds. During the second phase of the course,
students participated in the mold fabrication process at WashU using a combination of digital fabrication tools and
analog methods of construction. Once the molds were finalized, they were transported to Gate’s architectural precast
plant in Ashland City, TN for reinforcing, concrete cast, demolding and finishing process of the final panels.

 

 

Students:

 

Team 1

Will Simon

Ethan Lowndes

Austin Tsailin

Carlos Soria-Garcia

 

Team 2

Jaz Alshuraym

Karen Ramos

Andrej Velickovski

Haoxuan Yan

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Team 3

Jack Zhang

Dylan Wei

Kaiwen Wang

Angela Lai

 

Team 4

Sarah Cullinane

Stephanie Xu

Hannah Grau

 
 

 

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