Materials are the key elements for any creation. Stone and wood have been ranking at the top of the materials till date for sculpture making and creations. Sculptures have always helped human for identification of the different times and eras of the history. Stones, Metals, and wood have best supported this long-lasting phenomenon of sculpture making.
I have been working on different applications of WPC materials as my extreme passion. This material is a wonder as a composite from natural wood and plastic. Their mutual properties are helpful for developing different applications and products. A few things you should know are its technical properties, bonding tactics, surface preparations, coating, and painting methods for materials. One most important thing about this material is its joinery system. If you get hands on experience with WPC boards, then you can create modules without screw!
The surface of the material comes as a finished one during its production itself. It doesn’t need any protective layers like HPL sheets during applications. This way you can use it for the direct applications may be in interior or exterior. It can be cut to any custom shape with hand tools and CNC machines; thus, you can create designer marvels out of these sheets.
STORY of the sculpture
A similar experiment was conducted by the students of CEPT (Centre for environmental planning & technology) earlier with our sheets. Then it became a history and a story now. I was trying to find out the core team of designers those had created this beautiful sculpture since years. But I could not find them. But during my recent effort in finding them again I found a photography maestro from Ahmedabad who captured this sculptural beauty into his camera. Dr Ravi Tahilramani, popularly known as Dr Rave in the creative world is a Doctor, Photographer, Filmmaker, and a business owner. While finding that CEPT student team on google, I accidentally met with Dr Rave via his website. I found those pictures on his website and got connected with him. He expressed those wonderful moments of how he captured such images when Drones were not available. He really created & captured something with his own vision, for which was in a quest since years. On my request he really shared this image with the immense joy, and I am sharing it here for the WPC fraternity and architecture world today. But still I have not yet found that student who created this masterpiece. I hope soon I will find them in this round world.
Here you can find those images where WPC sheets were used for creating artistic sculpture. This was placed at one of the Ahmedabad’s known malls for years. Yes, it is made of WPC.
WPC sheets can be used for architectural sculptures and murals. Previously we understood about the application of sheets for heritage design preservations. Moving further towards sculptures and murals, architects can create unique formations from WPC boards because of its precision for CNC cutting. WPC boards carry outstanding properties for use if outdoor weather applications as shown in the picture. At times it can be painted also for adding more life, not immediately like wood but may be after several years. I would say this as a very important material for architectural creations those need to be made faster, economical, smarter and for a long life. Similar sculptures if designed for interiors, then what to say about its life…. may be several decades!!
Hardik Panchal,
HARDY SMITH
Photos by Dr Rave
(https://www.linkedin.com/in/drravitahilramani/), www.drrave.com