2020 | July | Concrete Tardigrade - lightweight concrete furniture pieces

As part of the campus expansion of the University of Kassel, the building of the old cloth weaving mill Gottschalk & Co was converted into a student house and reopened after the renovation work on 01.11.2019. In the future, the General Student Council (AStA), the autonomous units, as well as student groups will have their rooms in the listed building. Especially in the entrance area, new and old architecture meet. In order to emphasize the history of the building and to create a reference to the original use of the building, pieces of furniture were designed from lightweight concrete, which was produced with the help of fabric formwork. An eye-catcher is thus the concrete surface, which has a textile structure. The basic concept was based on the physique of a tardigrade (also known as a tardigrade).

The entire design process from brainstorming to completion was realized by students of architecture, civil engineering, nanostructure science and product design via workshops. The project bore the motto: By students for students. In this respect, two bachelor project groups in our department dealt with the concrete and surface optimization of the furniture. A lightweight concrete with a density of approx. 1.7 ^kg/dm3 was used with the additives limestone powder and expanded glass. Surface optimization included aesthetic aspects such as coloration and finishing methods.

The result can be viewed in the student house at Universitätsplatz 10 - 34127 Kassel.

We would like to express our sincere thanks for the material sponsorship to the company Scholz Farbpigmente for the pigments and to the company Nüßingen for the surface coating agent.