Marble Fairbanks Flatform

Marble Fairbanks is a New York based architecture, design, and research office, which gained notoriety with a project entitled Flatform. Flatform is a panel system developed by Marble Fairbanks through the use of technology. The panels are designed and created through computer numerically controlled (CNC) devices.

The panels are created by cutting, scoring, and folding stainless steel to create a three-dimensional panel system. Because the system uses tabs as connectors, fasteners are not needed. The panels are flat sheets of stainless steel with the necessary cuts and perforations, the flat sheets can then be shipped to the site, where assembly will also take place.

The system can be designed to have a variety of patterns and levels of opacity (based on the number of cuts, folds, tabs, etc). The patterns are developed digitally and then sent to a CNC router to cut the stainless steel to the exact specifications. These details allow the panels to be made perfectly and set up for on-site fabrication.

By illustrating the technique of using digital processes for all aspects of the project, Marble Fairbanks linked the concept, design, fabrication, and assembly phases seamlessly. While on a smaller scale, Marble Fairbanks believes this is the future of architecture. The future will have architecture generated through the use of CNC processes, allowing smoother transitions and communication between phases, as well as movement toward prefabrication and less material through the use of integrating all aspect of design.