The Afterlives of Buildings
After many years of service, a Dutch laboratory is about to be demolished. Equipment sold, occupants long gone, the wrecking ball is about to arrive. A bit of the resulting […]
Weathering Facades
Three weeks ago I wrote a post entitled “Weathered” in which I described ways that people deal with the weathering of typical cladding materials on their homes or other buildings. […]
Architecture as Scaffolding
The idea of architecture as a neutral framework or scaffolding has emerged at various time throughout history, particularly at times of significant technological or social change. The Crystal Palace, built […]
Festivus! For Architects and the Rest of Us!
As the snow fell today in Minneapolis, Christmas music and lights began to surround me. Yes, it’s that wonderful time of the year when it’s okay to eat an extra […]
She’s a Book—House…
She’s a book—-house… The lady’s stacked and that’s a fact, ain’t holding nothing back. …Actually, she is holding something back–or up, rather. Who needs a brick house when we could […]
Wt Hpnd 2 Vwls?
Architecture, Materials and The Battle of Speed and Quality Yeah, so where have all the vowels gone? What happened to them? We find ourselves in a world where words are […]
Material Memory
Senses can trigger our memory, but can memory trigger our senses? My grandfather used to tell us stories of the war and his march from Omaha Beach to Berlin. With […]
The Great Metal Tube in the Sky
Composite Bird My window seat next to the wing of the Boeing 777 that would carry me across the Arctic Sea to China was anything but desired. As soon as […]
ePTFE (like the other two, but not exactly)
While PTFE and ETFE have made significant contributions to architecture, the range of architectural types they have affected is rather limited. They have been applied exclusively to tensile and pneumatic […]
ETFE (Teflon’s handsome brother)
While PTFE (Teflon) can certainly be considered a bit of a miracle material, and has certainly had a significant impact on our lives in it’s own special non-stick way, architecturally […]
PENTAGON MEMORIAL [Stainless_Steel _Casting+CNCtech]
Project: Pentagon Memorial, Arlington, VA US Architect/Designer: KBAS Studio Sources: http://www.kbas-studio.com Featured material: Stainless Steel The pentagon memorial required the collaboration of a network of disciplines from melting, pouring, and […]
NINGBO TENGTOU PAVILION [Social_Responsive_Vernacular]
Project: Ningbo Tengtou Pavillion, Shanghai, China, 2010 Architect/Designer: Amateur Architecture Studio, Wang Shu, Principal Sources: http://www.worldarchitects.com/en/amateur Featured material: Reused/Repurpose brick+tiles Responding to current China’s thirst for impatient¹ urbanization, Architect Wang […]
GREEN CAST [vertical green: aesthetic + function exposed]
Project: Green Cast, Odaware-shi, Kanagawa prefecture, Japan Architect/Designer: Kengo Kuma and Associates Sources: http://kkaa.co.jp/ Featured material: Aluminum die cast panels and plant material. This vertical green facade by KK+A leaves […]
PTFE. (arch nemesis of duct tape)
And now the moment you’ve been waiting for. A three part series on variations of tetra-fluorocarbons in architecture. Get some popcorn and pull up a chair, you’re in for a […]
Rope as Form
Rope has been a tool used throughout time to pull, tug, loft, tie, connect, carry, lift, and attach. Its no wonder that it is also used in many forms of […]
Placing Prefab
The Loblolly House by Kierantimberlake provocatively rethinks the pre-fabricated home in a way that attempts to reconcile the mass-customization capabilities of 21st century fabrication with more elemental aspects of place. […]
As long as I’m on a roll, let’s talk more about tires
So in the last post we just rolled over a few of the lighter applications of tires in architecture, mostly because true sustainability is terrifying and you’re not ready for […]
Plastic
Plastic is a tricky material. On one hand I reject it because of the tremendous negative impact it has on the environment and health. The production of plastic requires large […]
The Fascination with Corrugation
Cardboard is perhaps the most vernacular engineered material today. Almost everyone has had interaction with cardboard and most have experimented in their own construction using cardboard. Remember that toy you […]
Draw on the (Parabolic) Wall
Precedent: Winery Gantenbein (2006) Architects: Gramazio & Kohler, Bearth & Deplazes Architekten Location: Fläsch, Switzerland Process: This project uses a robotic arm to precisely place 20,000 bricks according to programmed […]
Lost in Paris
The clients who came to the architecture firm R & Sie had one request: they wanted a house designed that would allow them to look out, but not allow people […]
Material Strategies 
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