Design with Gravity- The Prince’s Foundation
Dumfries House- Scotland
July 2021
CERCAA has worked with The Prince’s Foundation to deliver a thin-tile vaults workshop as part of the Building Crafts Programme. The workshop (Design with Gravity) concluded with vaulted seating and sculptural elements designed and built by the participants and a central pavilion (Undulation) of 3 by 4 meters designed by CERCAA team. The participants were skilled craftspersons in carpentry, natural plastering, and earth construction. The workshop put the Mediterranean technique of thin-tile vaulting in dialogue with the rich building craft scene in the United Kingdom.
In this workshop, the participant learned:
A. Designing and form-finding of vaulted structures: The participants worked with physical models of hanging chains and textiles to understand how vaults work
B. Structural design and calculation of vaults: The participants were introduced to graphic statics drawings to estimate forces in the vaults
C. Building with thin-tile vaulting techniques: The participant practised using plaster of Paris with lightweight tiles to build vaults.
