commercial · fabrication

farsons old brewhouse desk.

A round reception desk for the old Farsons brewhouse in Mrieħel, clad in copper panels our robot pushed into shape one pass at a time.

all projects

farsons old brewhouse desk, the desk in the brewhouse entrance hall

client: farsons
location: farsons old brewhouse, mrieħel
year: 2022
sector: commercial · fabrication
system: robot-formed copper · milled mdf backing · ribbed plywood drum
made by: matter make

the project

DStudio, the interior designers on the old Farsons brewhouse, drew a ring of copper for the middle of the entrance hall, about four and a half metres across. Their drawing left one question open, in a note to the maker: how should the copper sections meet? That part was ours.

The outside of the desk curves two ways at once. It goes round the ring, and it flares out as it rises to the counter. You can roll a copper sheet in one direction, but not in two. So we formed it on the robot instead. The sheet is clamped in a timber frame and oiled, and a round-tipped tool presses into it, a little deeper on every pass, until it takes the shape of the model.

Each formed panel sits on moisture-resistant MDF, milled by the same robot to the same curve, so the copper has a firm, even base that stands up better to knocks. The backing is fixed to a ribbed plywood drum. Where two sheets meet, the copper edge is folded back on itself, which leaves a thin shadow line instead of a sharp edge. A strip of light runs under the rail on the inside.

We started from a laser scan of the brewhouse, taken while the building was still stripped back, and modelled the desk inside it. Then it took a while. The first copper tests were in April 2021 and the last panels came off the robot in May 2022. In between there were a lot of test sheets, and a small pile of papers on how copper stretches, wrinkles and springs back.

It sits in the same building as the Mr Q offices. There’s more on the process on build-tech.

farsons old brewhouse desk, from the entrance, between the steel-mesh towers — from the entrance, between the steel-mesh towers

farsons old brewhouse desk, the counter, with the workstations inside the ring — the counter, with the workstations inside the ring

farsons old brewhouse desk, the panels flare out towards the rail — the panels flare out towards the rail

farsons old brewhouse desk, the copper rail from above, its fine ridges catching the light — the copper rail from above, its fine ridges catching the light

farsons old brewhouse desk, from the side, towards the stair — from the side, towards the stair

farsons old brewhouse desk, across the hall — across the hall

farsons old brewhouse desk, the robot milling a stack of moisture-resistant mdf to the curve — the robot milling a stack of moisture-resistant mdf to the curve

farsons old brewhouse desk, the robot forming a copper sheet clamped in its timber frame — the robot forming a copper sheet clamped in its timber frame

farsons old brewhouse desk, the round-tipped tool pressing into the oiled sheet — the round-tipped tool pressing into the oiled sheet

farsons old brewhouse desk, mid-pass: the tool path builds up the curve — mid-pass: the tool path builds up the curve

farsons old brewhouse desk, the ridges of the tool path, on a sheet still being formed — the ridges of the tool path, on a sheet still being formed

farsons old brewhouse desk, two formed panels on their milled backing — two formed panels on their milled backing

farsons old brewhouse desk, the ribbed drum in the workshop, with the milled backing going on — the ribbed drum in the workshop, with the milled backing going on

farsons old brewhouse desk, one milled backing panel, before its copper — one milled backing panel, before its copper

the diagrams

how it came together.

01the brewhouse, scanned.the point cloud, cut open as a sectional perspective · feb 2021
02the desk in the scan.the model set into the laser scan, with the storage around it
03one panel, taken apart.milled mdf, the copper sheet, a curvature check for where a seam can go, and the unrolled parts
04elevations.side, front, top and isometric
05build-up.copper, moisture-resistant mdf, stacked ply and the plywood waffle, with the light and the cable tray
06details.the core, the ends, the open desk and the light

how it was made

one pass at a time.

fabricationbody scalecopper

from the scan.
We modelled the desk inside a laser scan of the brewhouse, so it was drawn against the room as it really is.
copper, two ways.
The face curves around the ring and flares out towards the counter. The robot presses a round-tipped tool into a clamped copper sheet, a little deeper on every pass, until it takes the shape.
a firm back.
Every panel sits on moisture-resistant MDF milled to the same curve, fixed to a ribbed plywood drum. Where two sheets meet, the edge folds back and leaves a thin shadow line.

from the lab · this project in

gamut · coloursample this palette ↗Five tones sampled from the photograph above. Sampled, not invented.