Tilt Lab, the philanthropic partner of the Tilt-Up Concrete Association (TCA), commissioned Pablo Moyano Fernandez and Last Architecture, a Phoenix-based architectural firm, to design a tilt-up concrete demonstration for the TCA Expo and Convention 2024 held in at Phoenix, AZ. SunTEC was the company in charge of building the panels. The primary objective of the collaborating team was to showcase the transformative potential that tilt-up construction offers within the concrete industry. The design concept emphasizes the unique advantages of the tilt-up method compared to traditional cast-in-place and precast concrete systems. It focused on two main principles: integrating a dynamic third dimension to the conventional flat tilt-up panels and using locally sourced earth as the primary mold component to achieve double-curvature geometric surfaces for the casting process.

Tilt-up concrete wall construction is a casting alternative to cast-in-place and precast systems. The panels are cast horizontally on site and tilted up to a vertical position, forming strong building envelopes. Some remarkable features of the tilt-up system are the durability, speed, efficiency, and cost effectiveness of the process compared to other conventional construction systems. Tilt-up construction is characterized by the simplicity of the casting method; using a flat floor slab as formwork on-site, the outcome is typically flat panels. Opus Luteum challenges traditional tilt-up concrete construction by incorporating a third dimension to the typical flat panel using soil as formwork. Earth, the most primitive and basic construction material, can support an efficient mold making system that is environmentally sensitive. This innovative approach utilizes an accessible, economical, and reusable local material that allows the configuration of molds with double-curvature surfaces that can provide additional structural rigidity and stability to the concrete panels. The production of concrete building envelopes with complex geometries opens a range of design possibilities for load-bearing building envelopes with simple and affordable means.