Mariana Popescu

Assistant Professor of Digital Fabrication, Civil Engineering & Geosciences, TU Delft, Netherlands

Mariana Popescu

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    Mariana Popescu

    Assistant Professor of Digital Fabrication, Civil Engineering & Geosciences, TU Delft, Netherlands.

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    RPG2020-ETH-143648.jpg

    Mariana Popescu, PhD researcher, Block Research Group, ETH Zurich (foreground) shows RPG recipients state-of-the-art research on sustainable construction and materials technology across Switzerland at the Arc-Tec-Lab and NEST.

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    Finished structure

    The “KnitCrete” technology is being developed at ETH Zurich by the Block Research Group in collaboration with the Chair for Physical Chemistry of Building Materials, as part of the Swiss National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) in Digital Fabrication.

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    KnitCandela detail

    The hybrid and ultra-lightweight “KnitCrete” formworks are easily transportable, reduce the need for additional supporting structures and scaffolding, and simplify the logistics on the construction site.

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    Interior of the finished structure

    Compared to conventional weaving, knitting minimizes the need for cutting patterns to create spatial surfaces, allows for the directional variation of material properties, and simplifies the integration of channels and openings.

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    View from above

    “KnitCrete” formworks use a custom, 3D-knitted, technical textile as a lightweight, stay-in-place shuttering, coated with a special cement paste to create a rigid mold, and supported by additional falsework elements such as a tensioned cable-net or bending-active splines.

Mariana Popescu is Assistant Professor of Digital Fabrication in Civil Engineering & Geosciences at TU Delft in the Netherlands. She was a workshop expert at the 6th Holcim Forum 2019 on efficient construction methods using cable-net and knitted fabric formwork.

Last updated: April 24, 2024 Delft, Netherlands

Mariana Popescu is a computational architect and structural designer with a strong interest in innovative ways of approaching the fabrication process and use of materials in construction. Her area of expertise is computational and parametric design with a focus on digital fabrication and sustainable design.

Interior of the finished structure

Compared to conventional weaving, knitting minimizes the need for cutting patterns to create spatial surfaces, allows for the directional variation of material properties, and simplifies the integration of channels and openings.

Before joining TU Delft, she was a post-doctoral researcher at the Block Research Group (BRG) at the Institute of Technology in Architecture at ETH Zurich, involved in the NCCR Digital Fabrication, where in 2019 she also obtained her PhD, which was nominated for the ETH Medal for outstanding dissertation. 

Her research focuses on the development of KnitCrete, a novel, material-saving, labour-reducing, cost-effective formwork system for casting of doubly-curved geometries in concrete using 3D knitting. She is the main author of the award-winning KnitCandela shell and has been included as a “Pioneer” in the MIT Technology Review Innovator Under 35 global list in 2019.

Related information

Related information

Location

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