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With a project like this, you need to constantly monitor costs and sustainability.
In this context it was decided that the formwork elements for the plinths would be used multiple times. To this end, the students created detailed, formwork plans for the kitchen, auditorium and gallery plinths, outlining which elements could be used multiple times and in which areas.
They then constructed the formwork elements on site, brushing them with formwork oil (sunflower oil) to ensure that they could be easily detached from the concrete, and erected them as designated. After completing the concreting process, they carefully removed and cleaned the formwork. The formwork for the auditorium was constructed using the formwork elements used for the kitchen, plus a few additional elements. The moisture in the concrete had caused warping in a few of the already used boards, which the students rectified with the aid of additional nails. After oiling the boards, the students got the formwork ready for concreting the auditorium plinth.
After concreting the kitchen and auditorium, the students turned their attention to creating the spot footings for the gallery. For this, they again cleaned the formwork, then dismantled and rebuilt it, adapting it to the smaller column footings. By this point the condition of the boards had deteriorated significantly. While additional nails and screws initially counteracted the problem well, the students eventually had to resort to tensioning belts and screw clamps, and put in a night shift, to complete the final plinths.
