La Cupola

Dante Bini, Costa Paradiso, Italy, 1971

Scale: no scale
Materials: inflatable, membrane, plaster
Type: form-finding
Detail: 3/7
Student: Maura Pagani, FS23

A small-scale study model of Dante Bini's La Cupola, demonstrating the pneumatic form-finding process using an inflated silicone membrane as a formwork over which plaster is cast. The model, set at no fixed scale, shows two adjoined dome lobes whose fluid, organic profile is a direct product of the inflatable mould's geometry. Clamps secure the circular timber base ring during casting, and annotated labels in the overview photograph identify the plaster shell and silicone membrane components. The model foregrounds the construction technique and emergent shell geometry rather than any architectural programme or detail.

How it's made — RAPLAB

Casting Workshop ↗
Casting plaster — tutorial ↗
Plaster — tutorial ↗