Working with plaster as our casting material, we sought to explore the unpredictable side of making. Rather than aiming for a flawless mould, we introduced moments of uncertainty by cutting, slicing, and altering the surfaces of our mould.

By laser cutting, we created our own patterns, an intervention that later surrendered to the fluid behaviour of the material. The patterns varied in scale, direction, and angle, setting up a foundation for controlled chaos once the casting began.

By accepting the material’s autonomy and allowing patterns to distort under pressure, we captured a series of unique artefacts, forms that speak of making, material negotiation, and imperfection.

Extending this study, we let leaks merge across moulds, linking through shared cuts. Overflow spread onto bases, where it solidified into supports, turning chance drips into architectures shaped by gravity, time, and material agency.

Expanding from plaster, the study turned to wax, cement, clay, and slip—materials sharing malleability yet differing in flow, viscosity, and setting. Each revealed how transformation drives casting beyond replication into active form-making.

By comparing their behaviours, the research traced how liquidity, resistance, and solidification shape design. Moving across materials exposed casting as negotiation with matter, where form emerges through dialogue, not control.

Building on earlier studies, we advanced with concrete using a 50x50 mm teak grid. The rigid framework allowed observation of material flow, with pours and vibration revealing how concrete spreads and interacts within structured boundaries

By altering spacing, combining grid units, and layering sand between pours, we created controlled voids and pockets. This scaled the casting process while generating varied forms, extending the design language through material-driven experimentation.

The casting system was translated to spatial system, using a grid logic to define rooms, stairs, and partitions. Alternating pours of concrete and sand controlled height, flow, and segmentation, preserving the layered behaviour of earlier experiments

Timber bounding boxes and water-softened cardboard formed compartments, guiding material flow. Sequencing and layering let forms emerge dynamically, positioning casting as a tool for spatial negotiation rather than simple replication.

Next we developed a modular cruciform timber mould to create vertical and horizontal compartments. Under-filling allowed concrete to settle unevenly, partially revealing the grid geometry and introducing controlled variation into the casting process.

Trapped air in enclosed slabs produced surface voids, while concrete viscosity was managed to fill without collapse. Anchored to a baseplate, the process revealed material traces and established a logic of sequencing, rotation, and layering.

In this final stage, the mould is retained within the concrete, becoming both structure and surface. Timber elements act as scaffold, enclosure, and architectural expression, collapsing the boundary between casting tool and built form.