Log Bench
Concrete+Wood Exploration
At FIU I got to work alongside Professor Nick Gelpi in researching a material called woodcrete. As the name suggests, this material is made by mixing cement with tried woodchips to act as an aggregate. While this does reduce the strength of the concrete, it also becomes an excellent heat and sound insulator. The porous finish allows water to flow through it thus creating no puddles.
Unnaturally Natural
While we did make hundreds of different molds, dozens of different projects, the most notable for me is the Log Bench that I was able to design and make a mock-up of. This was in part a collaboration with the University to help them design a new park and to provide different concepts for things like benches. By using Rhino to make shop drawings, "slice" the model to get section profiles, and finally to create G-code to a CNC mill to cut out plywood profiles to then stack to make a reusable mold.
The Bench
