PLUSH Portfolio

SANDCASTING
Casting on a Dump: Using Sand as a Form-Generating Formwork
PROJECT BY: JIRIES ALALI
SCHOOL: CALIFORNIA COLLEGE OF THE ARTS
DATE PRESENTED: OCTOBER 2020
This sandcasting method was
presented by Jiries Alali at the
Acadia Conference in 2020.
“Casting on a Dump” focuses on
the idea of this low-cost method
to be accessible and efficient on
the usage of materiality. These
non-standardly shaped panels
are first created from a wooden
framework that holds on the
materials, with a top wooden box
to contain the sand poured, and a
bottom box to catch all the extra
to reuse again. The top box only
carries the boundary of the contain
with no bottom, but instead the
bottom is slightly smaller that sits
on supports inside the bottom box,
and has a interchangable circle
piece with a cutout for sand to filter
through. Once sand is poured,
whatever is left on the top box is
the form itself and sprayed with
water to stick the particles better
toegther, filling in all the gaps.
Concrete is then poured onto the
sand form and cured. Once cured,
the form can be lifted and sprayed
with reinforced concrete as a finish
touch.
possible forms in Grasshopper
combines efforts from both users
of this cast and the computational
academia. Each slight rotation
would change the over shape. As
a way to bring variety to interesting
shapes, this way of constructional
method brings opportunity to be
more material efficient by the
usage of the same materials over
a long period of time.
This sort of sandcasting is a
formwork method that as been
recognized as a zero-waste
formwork construction method.
Many of today’s current fabrication
processes depend high-end
fabrication technologies that are
inaccessible in underprivileged
contexts. Yet in such areas, the
cost of manual labor is substantially
more affordable than obtaining
expensive machinery. The ease
nterchangibility of different forms
makes it more efficient in regards
to the ability of the same material
usage.
With this type of casting, there
is no replica of the same form.
The interchangibility and flexible
assemblage allows for varying
shapes and sizes. This hybrid of
low-tech materials, and simulating
DSN S 546 Spring 2021 | 119