Design Modelling Symposium at CITA - Copenhagen, Denmark

Sean Ahlquist will present the research paper "Integrating Differentiated Knit Logics and Pre-Stress in Textile Hybrid Structures" at the Design Modelling Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark on 30 September 2015.

Abstract

This paper describes research in the use of machine knitting for manufacturing highly differentiated textiles and their implementation as the tensile component of a textile hybrid structural system. The fundamental concept of a textile hybrid structure is in generating form through the integration of bending- and form-active behaviours implemented in materials comprised, in some or all parts, of a fibrous nature. A prototype entitled Mobius Rib-knit explores the nature of a knitted textile as a part of such a system. Operating at the level of stitch structure, differentiated form-active properties and non-planar geometries are materialized within a seamless textile. Utilizing CNC machine knitting, a fundamental stitch structure, the rib-knit, is exploited for its elastic nature, while the ability to generate a shaped 3d textile allows for a seamless material to fit to an intensely contorted geometry. These characteristics are tailored to describe visual, spatial and tactile qualities; ones which are unique to the field of pre-stressed lightweight structures. While the rib knit is a conventional knit structure, its novel use is described in this paper as the articulator of surface dimensionality and patterning within an architectonic system.

Ahlquist, S.: 2016, Integrating Differentiated Knit Logics and Pre-Stress in Textile Hybrid Structures, in: Thomsen, M., Tamke, M., Gengnagel, C., Faircloth, B., and Scheurer, F. (eds.) Modelling Behaviour: Proceeding of the Design Modelling Symposium, Copenhagen, September 2015, pp. 1-14. (online)