Recycled can Arch
Design Technology Project - Grove Infants School 2013
As part of my A-level product design project i had been approached by the grove infant and junior school to create a commissioned piece that would encapsulate the schools new 'recycling ethos', the project was to become a structure that could highlight the possibilities of recycling materials and to also form as a gateway entrance to the newly constructed recycling and nature park that would form around the entrance.
Each arch would take 300+ recycled cans all gathered from the junior & infants school and repurposed to form the initial visible clad that is the can structure. The underneath structure is a circular steel bar and timber construction including a reclaimed timber clad that forms the mesh that the cans attach too.
Constructing the curve
The structure consists of a steel rods placed through a series of circular MDF spacers, the steel rods gave the structure its rigidity and form with the addition of the circular spacers that locked the structure into place and tied the rods together. The spacers then act as the reference points for the recycled timber clad to be attached giving further support for the structure and allow for the cans to be glued onto the timber.
Both arch elements were then given a plywood boxing that would then be poured in situ concrete within it to allow for a stable foundation when placed within the ground.
