This paper describes the structural design, digital fabrication and construction of KnitCandela, a free-form, concrete waffle shell with KnitCrete, a falsework-less formwork approach using a custom prefabricated knitted textile as multi-functional, structural shuttering layer and a form-found cable net as the main load-bearing formwork. The digitally designed and fabricated textile provided integrated features for inserting and guiding elements such as cables and inflatables that helped shape the sophisticated mould. With a total weight of only 55 kg, the 50 m² formwork was easy and compact to transport. On site, the formwork was tensioned into a timber and steel rig, the pockets were inflated, and then coated with a thin layer of custom-developed, fast-setting cement paste. This paste served as a first stiffening layer for the textile, minimising the formwork's deformations during further concrete application. Fibre-reinforced concrete was manually applied onto the formwork to realise a 3 cm-thick shell with 4 cm-deep rib stiffeners. The novel approach, for the first time applied at architectural scale in this project, enables the building of bespoke, doubly-curved geometries in concrete, with a fast construction time and minimal waste, while also reducing the cost and labour of manufacturing complex parts.

A novel formwork system is presented as a material saving, labour reducing and cost-effective solution for the casting of bespoke doubly curved concrete geometries. The approach uses a custom knit technical textile as a lightweight stay-in-place formwork with integrated solutions for the insertion of additional elements, and is fabricated as a nearly seamless fabric. Using weft knitting as the textile formation technique minimises the need for cutting patterns, sewing, welding or gluing, when compared to conventional weaving and gives the possibility to integrate channels, openings, have varying widths and directional material properties, thus broadening the geometric design space. The system has been tested through a small-scale concrete footbridge prototype, built using a pre-stressed hybrid knitted textile and a bending-active structure that acted as a waste-free, stay-in-place, self-supporting formwork. Through the gradual buildup of strength in thin layers of concrete, formwork deformations during casting were minimised. This allowed for low tensioning levels of the fabric and the possibility to use higher pressure (e.g. during shotcreting) in applying the subsequent concrete without intermediate support from below. The computational design and fabrication of the knitted textile formwork included integrated channels for the insertion of bending-active rods, tensioning ribbons and features for controlling the concrete casting. The analysis and process of increasing the stiffness of the lightweight and flexible formwork is presented. The hybrid approach results in an ultra-lightweight formwork that is easily transportable and significantly reduces the need for falsework support and scaffolding, which has many advantages on the construction site.