Rethinking about the application and ability for camouflage’s potential impact on design and the building industry, I have started challenging some of my earlier thoughts. How do we start to think about hose camouflage can be applied to more than the surface of an object?
If we delve into subject head first we can further apply camouflage on a programmatic and design scale. The spaces and design should reflect as many external environmental ideas as possible. These ideas can be based on the natural environment, social characteristics of the buildings users, or even the future needs of the community.
Technology and innovation have become important ideas that play a huge role in building design. Designers have an infinite number of new products and materials at their fingertips that have the ability to make some truly amazing things. Each day the world around us continues to change and develop and we as designers often contribute to that in one way or another. Our buildings will always be placed in a certain way, in a certain environment, and will have some impact on their surroundings. One initial question we may ask ourselves when designing is if we want to blend in the surrounding environment of really standout from it. No matter which direction we choose, we are essentially using the art of camouflage as a strategy for our entire designs’ performance.
The language of camouflage is not foreign to any designer. We are already asking similar questions about the surrounding environment, people, program, and goals. The application of camouflage has the ability to be transcendent and innovative in an existing way. Taking what already exists locally and socially and injecting it into the concept for the building is all it really is. Innovation doesn’t have to mean the shiniest object that has the thinnest walls. Innovation should employ the understanding and application for the needs for any surrounding environment.
Material Strategies 