ceramiSKIN: Digital Possibilities for Ceramic Cladding Systems

CeramiSKIN is an inter-disciplinary investigation by an architect and a ceramics artist examining new possibilities for ceramic cladding using digital design and digital fabrication techniques. Research shown is part of an ongoing collaborative residency at The European Ceramics Work Centre. Ceramics are durable, sustainable, and capable of easily assuming detailed shapes with double curvature making ceramics seemingly ideal for digitally inspired “plastic” architecture. The primary reason for the decline in complex ceramic cladding is that manual mold-making is time-consuming - which is at odds with today’s high labor costs and compressed construction timeframes. We assert that digital advances in the area of mold-making will assist in removing some of the barriers for the use of complex ceramic cladding in architecture. The primary goals of ceramiSKIN as they relate to digitally assisted production are: greater variety and complexity, reduced cost and time, a higher degree of accuracy, and an attempt to facilitate a wider range of digital design possibilities through the use of a ceramics in architectural cladding systems. The following paper begins with an overview discussing double curvature and biophilia in architecture and their relationship to ceramics. This is followed by detailed commentary on three different experiments prior to a concluding summary