The PCI Foundation voted to accept a proposal for a new educational project during its September 19, 2013 Board of Trustees meeting in Grapevine, Texas.
Starting in the spring semester of 2014, a new program in the architecture school at the University of Texas at Arlington will be added to a growing list of universities that have undertaken new precast/prestressed concrete programs. The school will work in conjunction with the PCI regional group, Precast Concrete Manufacturers Association of Texas.
The school has more than 800 students and offers accredited undergraduate and professional education degrees in Architecture. The proposed course, Performative Precast will be a three-year program of integrated design and seminar courses for graduate level students. “These courses will concentrate on a specific area of precast application (façade, structure, infrastructure) and together will provide a unique opportunity to conduct in-depth design and research into digitally fabricated precast concrete components,” says Professor Brad Bell who will oversee the program.
A unique aspect of this program is the emphasis on the impact new digital design tools can make on methods and types of formwork used in precast manufacturing. “Performative, as we use it, suggests how the application of new technology such as green building practices, parametrically derived geometries, composite materials and advanced sensor integration might advance precast into a design and construction paradigm,” says Bell.
For more information about these and other programs done in conjunction with the PCI Foundation, visit the website at pci-foundation.org.