Fleur Palmer’s scientific contributions

The intention of this project is to research the potential of emergent technologies for developing sustainable composites for the building industry. It is divided into three parts: Part 1 Identifies emergent practices which are being applied to the development of new sustainable building prototypes such as developments using nanotechnologies, the influence of biomimetics, the development of intelligent interactive systems and the use of digital technologies to generate complex cellular structural systems. Part 2 Outlines existing processes involved in selecting and manufacturing prototypes, as many existing processes have been opportunistically applied to emergent practices to generate innovative sustainable prototypes. Part 3 By synthesising the research gathered in the previous parts of this thesis, this section documents the design process for developing a sustainable building system. The design is based on a minimal surface structure to reduce materiality and to optimise strength and its manufacturing process exploits emergent and existing technologies for its generation.