Kerf structure for flood-responsive architecture

Sammanfattning

This master’s thesis investigates the potential of applying transformation principles from the fashion industry to architectural design, specifically, how fundamental textile techniques such as seams, cuts, and slits can convert flat, two-dimensional surfaces into complex three-dimensional forms. Through a series of material experiments with these traditional methods, slits and cuts were identified as the most effective in generating spatial transformation. This observation led to a focused exploration of slitting as a fabrication method and ultimately directed the research toward kerf patterns - a strategy involving strategically placed cuts that allow rigid materials to bend, fold, and morph in response to external forces. The project examines how various kerf geometries: linear, radial, and hybrid, can be applied to sheet materials to produce responsive, deformable architectural components. Within this framework, architecture is not approached as a fixed outcome, but rather as a platform for experimentation, enabling the testing of kerf-based systems in terms of their spatial, structural, and performative capacities. The research expands beyond formal exploration to address issues of scalability, modularity, and environmental adaptability, proposing a material-driven system capable of dynamic reconfiguration through programmed deformation based on internal pattern logic. To evaluate the relevance of this approach, the system is tested within a real-world context: Turov, Belarus as a flood-prone region where seasonal inundation, driven by climate change, is projected to submerge more than half of the land area by 2050. In this scenario, kerf patterns are employed not as definitive architectural solutions, but as experimental tools for prototyping adaptable spatial responses to extreme and unpredictable environmental conditions. Viewed through this lens, the kerf pattern becomes more than a fabrication technique, it emerges as a spatial language for resilience, enabling dynamic, responsive, and context-sensitive architectural strategies in the face of environmental uncertainty.