Earth Form and the Time Machine: Giving Up Perfection, Gaining the Ground

This paper presents the concept of Earth Form—a regenerative casting method that uses scored, fluid earth as temporary and circular formwork for concrete. In contemporary construction, structurally optimised geometries are increasingly realised through highly customised, digitally fabricated formworks. While these digital techniques aim to reduce material consumption in the concrete bulk, they often require resource-intensive fabrication processes and rely on materials such as foam, wood, or plastic, that are difficult to recycle or reuse. Earth Form proposes a counterapproach: leveraging fluid soil, robotic scoring, and the shaping power of time to generate expressive and structurally viable casts. Rather than pursuing machine precision, this method embraces decay, emergence, and atmospheric transformation as part of the form-giving process. Rooted in a lineage of ephemeral mould systems made from earthen materials, this research envisions a materially intelligent and circular architecture—aligned with site, season, and regeneration, while drastically reducing reliance on machinery.