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 […]
Category Archives: Plastic
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 […]
Tired
In 2003, about 290 million tires were discarded in the United States. That constitutes about 1 tire per person every single year. Fortunately, in the past 10 years the market […]
And Then There Was Teflon
A Brief History of Technology, Part 2 – Through the Teflon Looking Glass Lets step away from heavy-handed theory and digital technology for a minute and look at Teflon. As […]
FLOCK [>from typical – innovative surface>]
FLOCK [>from typical – innovative surface>] Material/application: FLOCK Designer: Speziell Studio Sources: http://www.speziell.net/ Featured material: Flocks (plastic or natural fibers) – surface coating In 2003, Speziell Studios unveiled the great […]
The House of Yesterday – Today!
Monsanto’s House of the Future was surely an aspirational work of architecture. Its formal properties, both in and out, were truly “plastic”: soft edges, sculpted interiors, and a bold authenticity […]
From Smartphone to Smarthouse
How can ever evolving digital technologies, which typically become outdated or obsolete within a matter of years or even months, be integrated effectively into architecture, a discipline known for its […]
Light Technology + Cladding – Kunsthaus Graz
The Kunsthaus Graz Museum of Modern Art in Austria was designed by Peter Cook & Colin Fournier through CRAB Studio Projects. This biomorphic building located in the heart of the old […]
Foamed Memories
Shape memory alloys such as nitinol (muscle wire) are gradually moving into public nomenclature. While the novelty of such materials is ripe for exploration, application has proven difficult as the […]
Building With Beer and the Material Ecosystem
Material repurposing in architecture has more than a few negative associations to overcome. We often think of small scale do-it-yourself constructions, like greenhouses made from plastic bottles or pallet buildings […]
Material Interrogation: The New Olympic Infrastructure
Perhaps reflecting on infrastructure failures in cities like Montreal and Athens, planners for the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics sought to embrace the temporality of the event and extend its […]
EcoARK Pavilion by Miniwiz Sustainable Development LTD
Buildings and houses constructed out of recycled plastic bottles have been around almost as long as the plastic bottle itself. Bottles are lightweight, easy to handle, and generally cost nothing. […]
Inflatable Cladding
When it comes to cladding a building architects have many options. Cladding options are nearly endless and add character and feeling to the structure. In the past when it came […]
B(h)uis by Hoogte Twee Architecten
The B(h)uis by Hoogte Twee Architecten is a small 2 to 4 person pavilion built in Lent, The Neatherlands in 2009. It is a temporary and experimental structure that is […]
Material Replication–Or should I say substance replication?
The H2O building designed by the firm Axis Mundi, is an example of architecture trends that recailm the essence of materiality. Here, phenolic composite material is used to give a sense […]
Material Strategies 
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