Material System

From pallet to building component.

The Qurtuba body of work begins by carefully taking pallets apart. The resulting timber stringers and blocks become a working kit of parts for walls, screens, cladding, floors and other architectural elements.

Disassembly

Recover the parts before designing the pattern.

A pallet contains long timber members, referred to here as stringers, and shorter spacer blocks. Once separated and prepared, these parts can be grouped, layered and rotated in different ways. The examples below describe arrangements documented in the founding record.

Stringer arrangements

Long elements, varied orientations.

01

Horizontal stacking

Stringers are placed in horizontal courses to build up walls or screens.

02

Infill panels

Grouped stringers sit within a separate supporting frame as non-structural infill.

03

Mirrored diagonal cladding

Stringers fixed at opposing 45-degree angles create a repeated zigzag surface.

04

Vertical stacking

Stringers are turned upright to create a denser vertical rhythm.

Block arrangements

Small pieces becoming patterned fields.

01

Stacked blocks

Blocks are placed in regular courses to create a solid, repeated texture.

02

Staggered infill

Overlapping blocks form offset arrangements within a frame or panel.

03

Diamond formations

Blocks are rotated and grouped to form geometric openings and patterns.

Evidence boundary

A record of applications, not a performance certificate.

This page documents material arrangements visible in the Qurtuba project record. It does not claim structural capacity, code compliance, durability or suitability for another use without project-specific testing and professional assessment.

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