Ena Lloret-Fritschi
Università della Svizzera italiana, Switzerland
Title:
Producing the Negative: Toward Circular Concrete Construction
Abstract:
Concrete structures are defined as much by their voids as by the material itself. Every cast element begins with the production of a negative—the mold that shapes the final structure. Rethinking how we produce this negative opens new possibilities for circular and resource-efficient concrete construction.
This talk highlights how alternative approaches to formwork can treat the mold not as disposable infrastructure but as an active design parameter. Through a series of experimental fabrication methods—including slipforming, paper formwork, earth-supported casting, and granular formwork—it explores how different ways of producing the negative can enable structurally informed geometries while reducing material waste.
By shifting attention from the concrete mix alone to the systems that shape it, these approaches suggest new directions for digital concrete construction where the design of the negative becomes central to more circular building processes.
Bio：
Ena Lloret-Fritschi is an architect, researcher, and educator working at the intersection of digital fabrication and structural design, targeting resource-efficient construction. She is Assistant Professor at the Accademia di Architettura di Mendrisio, Università della Svizzera italiana, where she leads the Fabrication and Material-Aware Architecture (FMAA) research group and serves as Director of the IAST – Institute of Architecture and Technology at USI. She received her PhD from ETH Zurich, where her research on Smart Dynamic Casting explored digitally controlled casting processes and adaptive formwork systems for concrete construction.
Her work investigates alternative fabrication and formwork strategies that enable structurally optimized and materially efficient structures, exploring materials such as paper, earth, and granular aggregates. She is also co-founder of Foldcast, a company developing recyclable paper-based formwork systems for optimized concrete structures.