Emilia Cabeza de Baca

“Most Innovative Eco-Furniture Project" Winner

Selected in Green Technology Studio, Eco-Furniture Design Competition course, University of Colorado, fall semester 2017.

Professor of Architecture Julee Herdt’s competition-based Green Technology course was a collaboration with Revampt Goods, Cherry Creek, Denver, high-end furniture storefront.  In the competition, students designed furniture as functional art using salvage-, found-, and green materials and processes.  Winning projects were selected from a group of 14 designs.  Work was juried by a group of 10 Colorado-based professionals including architects, furniture designers, artists, and structural engineers.

In my design of the Semi-Precious Stone Vanity Stool, I married a found vanity stool with a solid cast concrete cushion. With 150 pounds of assorted aggregate mixes, 7 different naturally derived pigments, 4 different forming methods, I conducted roughly 90 hours worth of research around concrete.

My final form was constructed with reclaimed remnant Lycra fabric and wire mesh, the mix needed to be very viscous with a texture similar to pancake batter in order to flood the form in an intuitive manner,  to my aggregate I added fair-trade Indigo powder after finding that other natural pigments were not vivid enough or failed to disperse evenly through the mix.

The method of fabric forming has about 30% the carbon footprint of traditional formwork and saves numerous pounds of steel and lumber. The form is recyclable and reusable. The formed concrete is also of higher quality since the water can escape more evenly and quickly.

This undergraduate research project expanded on research initiated by my work on the Semi-Precious Stone Vanity I made for Green Technology.

Concrete manufacturing currently accounts for roughly 5% of carbon emissions in the atmosphere, textile waste is approximately 5% of landfill waste in the United States. I saw this as an intervention opportunity. Studies are being conducted all over the world regarding flexible fabric forms, which weigh 100-300x less than rigid wood and steel forms and use about 1/10 of the materials.

Method: Compare concrete slabs from fabric forms against those from a rigid form, with samples of each without reinforcement or reinforced with either reclaimed Colorado Alpaca roving or reclaimed cotton thread.

Objective: Prove that sustainable concrete is a viable alternative due to its performance, low cost, safety, and mitigation of environmental waste.

Findings: Fabric formed concrete had a more even surface, meaning reduced surface permeability and less susceptibility to cracking and infiltration. Because the porous form allowed water to gradually bleed out, the slabs set more evenly and reached plasticity more quickly than their rigid formed counterparts. They also stood up better to tests of distributed and point loads. The fabric formed slab reinforced with cotton threads dramatically out performed all of its competitors.

Conclusion: Moving forward, I would like to investigate just how much waste could be redirected from US landfills and waterways with this methodology. Following this study, I would aim my focus at countries that are the world's largest garment producers to see what the environmental impact of such intervention would mean for them.

40West represents an emerging art district along West Colfax.

"The overarching purpose of 40 West Arts is to serve the community through the arts-- to bring arts education and experiences to those with limited access to the arts and to give artists and creative enterprises a community-based platform for community service and to further their creativity and move their entrepreneurial efforts forward."

40 West Arts District and the 40 West Farmers’ Market committee selected a mural designed by me and Estes Park based artist Grace Moreau for their summer-long market celebrating the history and ongoing revitilization of the West Colfax Corridor.