Transstudio

One of the most intriguing material innovations to be introduced to buildings in the past decade is aerogel. Originally developed by chemical engineer Samuel Stephens Kistler in the early 20th century, the world’s lightest-known solid material—made of about 1 percent quartz and 99 percent air—has been nicknamed “frozen smoke” due to its lightness and translucency.

It can be argued that Japan contains a higher number of internationally significant architects and designers relative to its geographic size than anywhere else in the world. Japanese designers regularly implement radical experiments in new materials and building systems that successfully address imminent energy and resource challenges. These technological achievements are combined with an acute [...]

Architects tend to pay more attention to materials than to the substances that hold them together. However, increased attention to material chemistry has encouraged greater scrutiny of adhesives used in building construction. Necessary components in assemblies and composites, adhesives provide important functionality—yet they often consist of synthetic chemicals that off-gas during curing, leading to negative [...]

The term “advanced materials” may be applied to a variety of high-performance materials designed to meet a wide array of functional objectives. The designation is typically associated with materials designed for robust structural or security applications, including products created for military or aerospace uses. While this remains a primary focus, there has also been a [...]

In a recent series of papers, Cornell researchers have been promoting the development of hydrocolloid printing, or solid freeform fabrication, as a means to create food via printing. (“Hydrocolloid” refers to substances that form a gel when combined with water.) The Cornell process enables the precise fabrication of complex objects made from different materials.

Reducing the embodied energy of building materials is a sustainability approach that has received serious attention recently, resulting in a few extreme examples of materials that are “grown” rather than manufactured—thus virtually eliminating the energy that would typically be used in the process. Although material production is a critical point of potential energy savings, long-term [...]

As building related energy consumption and resource utilization invite increasing scrutiny, architects and engineers have placed additional attention on the materials that comprise the architectural envelope. Historically, the façade was a relatively simply affair, designed to protect building occupants from the elements. In modern times, however, the building envelope must do more with less. Not [...]

The cover article of the November/December 2010 issue of Architectural Lighting magazine features experimental light and material installations created by graduate students at the University of Minnesota School of Architecture. The students participated in two catalyst studios taught by Blaine Brownell in collaboration with 3M scientist John Huizinga and materials specialist Margaret Vogel-Martin. These one-week [...]

One of the fundamental services that lighting consultants provide is to optimize the interplay between light and material. While good lighting design provides the appropriate intensity, focus, coloration, and diversity of types of illumination for buildings, great lighting design also exhibits a keen awareness of the complex interactions between light and material surfaces, which elevates [...]

Until recently, making and distributing a new product have remained costly and difficult parts of the design process for new, individual designers. But a new crop of digital fabrication technologies and online distribution channels has the potential to upend the economics of bringing products to market. The result may be a “long tail” effect: new [...]