Knitflatable Architecture - Pneumatically Activated Preprogrammed Knitted Textiles

Fabricating lightweight ceramics by spraying clay on knitted structures

“…Computer-controlled knitting opens up a broad field of opportunities for using more complex geometries and customised patterns as opposed to homogeneous knitting patterns. 6 Furthermore, the use of inflated pre-knitted structures to investigate the potential of textile architecture 7 and the use of weaving as a shaping mechanism in an architectural generative system 8 have also been the subjects of research in projects conducted at universities. Sewing fibre-reinforced composite strands using the tailored fibre placement technique has revealed the potential to generate double-curved geometries.…”

Microbiologically Activated Knitted Composites - Reimagining a column for the 21st century

“…Recent projects have also introduced knitting on an architectural scale for multi-performative hybrid structures (Ahlquist and Menges 2013;Tamke 2015) or in combination with pneumatic actuators for reinforced and programmed knitted structures (Baranovskaya et al 2016). Knitectonics (Chaturvedi et al 2011) also tackles the question of programmed material distribution -with differentiated properties -using domestic craft tools, such as small circular flat weft knitting devices, conveniently hacked to be computer numerically controlled.…”

Design-driven Uniaxial and Biaxial Tensile Testing of Knitted Fabrics Applied to Construction

“…There have been however some attempts in the last decade to integrate knitted textiles in larger hybrid structures, mostly combined with bending active elements. These trials have exploited the high customization potential of the fabrics, both density-wise to structurally optimize them [1][2][3][4][5] and appearance-wise [6,7], as well as their ability to stretch to a high extent [8]. The high degree of flexibility of these form-active textiles is complementary to the internal bending-active forces inside fiberreinforced elastic bars [1][2][3][6][7][8] or pneumatic elements [4,5], a mechanical behavior that cannot be replicated by stiffer coated or woven textiles.…”

“…These trials have exploited the high customization potential of the fabrics, both density-wise to structurally optimize them [1][2][3][4][5] and appearance-wise [6,7], as well as their ability to stretch to a high extent [8]. The high degree of flexibility of these form-active textiles is complementary to the internal bending-active forces inside fiberreinforced elastic bars [1][2][3][6][7][8] or pneumatic elements [4,5], a mechanical behavior that cannot be replicated by stiffer coated or woven textiles. Such recent developments call for an appropriate tensile testing method that would be useful to assess not only permissible loads, but also other more relevant properties to the actual application of knitted fabrics, for example maximum elongation and elastic deformation.…”

“…Such recent developments call for an appropriate tensile testing method that would be useful to assess not only permissible loads, but also other more relevant properties to the actual application of knitted fabrics, for example maximum elongation and elastic deformation. The current applications of knitted textiles are in the context of research on computational architecture and thus calculate their mechanical behavior by an iterative or computer-aided analysis only [1][2][3][4][5][6]8]. The first case in which biaxial tests were carried out was Hybrid Tower (an architectural result of conducted research) [7], which had to be placed in a real context with challenging environmental conditions, such as extreme wind and rain.…”