Materials are being repositioned in architecture back into elements that need to be understood by having physical contact with its materiality. As architects take a step back from the digital space and into the worlds of materials; the growing question among practices and universities is can material development be harnessed into a design-led practice?
The research proposes a new methodology that puts an architect at the helm of a material development process and will critically document this process so that others may follow and asks fundamental questions of an architect’s role in the material development process.
Hypothesis:
If an architect is placed in the navigating seat in a material development, will the different expertise create a material that is;
• Designed to meet the end users need (architects have been trained to think about building with regards to end users and put them at the heart of designs)
• Commercially viable (architects are normally the people specifying products for projects and have a sense of what sells in the market place)
• Aesthetically orientated (Having an architect from the start of the process, will create a product that is aesthetically positioned from day one)
Research Question:
What happens when an architect is put into the world of material development?
With this research question in mind the next stage was to get into the concrete labs at QUB. The current concrete lab at QUB is mostly used to date to support civil engineering research. To start the process, it meant learning how the procedure of acquiring lab time, health and safety requirements, equipment and mix calculations work in the lab. The challenge was an architect becoming comfortable in the concrete lab with regards to both the equipment, the processes, language and general engineering culture.
The project is to develop a sustainable façade/component made from concrete that uses waste streams and act as a biotope for plants, microbes and microorganism’s.
There is a changing thought in concrete that is moving beyond the brutalist and minimalist buildings of concrete but looks at concrete as offering a habitat for life and this is where the façade/component positions itself. Why can’t building façades grow/absorb water or dirt? Can a concrete façade be living acting as a habitat or biotope?
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