New Material Taxonomy an argument for a new material category
As humans, we seek to understand the world around us. It gives us comfort and stability in environments that ultimately vary. Our comprehension of place comes from memory, expectation, experience, and the value we associate with a location. All places change over time, and as they change, so does our understanding of the place.
3 Argument
Currently, we categorize materials as such: stone, metal, glass, concrete, ceramic, wood, textile, and plastic - all of which can be described as tangible products of some sort of process. I propose an additional category of architectural material: processes themselves as materials for constructing place and adapting to change.
Premise
As our physical world is becoming less predictable, we must develop new approaches in the way we intervene as architects. As architecture is fundamentally material, we must reconsider and expand upon the materials we use to create the social, physical, and psychological experiences of “place.�
CONCRETE
WOOD
5 Old Material Taxonomy
METAL
CERAMIC
TEXTILE
GLASS
7 Old Material Taxonomy
PLASTIC
STONE
HEAT
Heat is the result of a transfer of energy. The motion of atoms and molecules causes energy to be exchanged resulting in thermal energy. Energy in a system moves from warm (high energy) to cold (low energy).
energy
system
enters a system heats up
energy
system
leaves a system cools down
conduction
Heat is transfered through a medium due to the direct collisions of molecules.
convection
Heat is transfered through a fluid medium, such as air or water.
radiation
Electromagnetic waves pass through a vaccum or any transparent medium (solid or fluid). Heat is produced by the random movement of molecules heat is often depicted as a gradiant
The transfer of energy through light, electrical, mechanical, chemical, nuclear, sound, and thermal energies can result in heat. The disappation of heat always seeks to find an equilibrium of heat distributed through a medium. Heat is a process of energy.
WIND
Wind is caused by differences in pressure within the atmosphere.
Wind is a process of energy.
9 New Material Taxonomy
Wind is simply air in motion. Since the earth’s surface is heated unevenly, high and low pressure areas occure. Since energy always moves from high to low and seeks equilibrium, when there is high pressure in a system movement low pressure areas result in wind.
LIGHT
Light is electromagnetic radiation detectible by the human eye. Light requires an observer and a source. Light allows for visibility and is processed through autonomic systems in the human body. Light is sensed primarily with the eyes, although some sources of light also give off heat. Light allows us to sense objects in space.
natural
chromatic vision high spatial acuity PHOTOPIC VISION
• sun + stars (nuclear energy) • lightning (electrical energy) • fire (chemical energy)
man made
CONES
source vision at low-light a-chromatic low spatial acuity SCOTOPIC VISION
RODS
observer
• incandescent light bulbs • LED + OLED • fluorescent light bulbs • lasers???
matter or medium
light has both the ability to be seen and to allow one to see.
Light is a process of energy.
FOG
There is always some percentage of moisture in the air. When the conditions are right, moisture in the air becomes visible as fog. According to the Glossary Of Meteorology by the American Meteorological Society, “Fog is a collection of water droplets, suspended in the atmosphere in the vicinity of the earth’s surface which affects visibility.�
radiation fog
As the surface of the earth cools, the moist air immediately above it condenses.
upslope fog
Air moves up gently in elevation, just enough for the layers of air to reach saturation, resulting in fog.
Cold air overlaying warm air near a warm lake causes the air to exchange. This mixing of cool air chills the warmer air and moisture condenses above the lake - low clouds form.
frontal fog
Warmer rain droplets fall into colder, drier air causing evapporation to occur. The cold air moistens to form fog.
Fog is a process of energy.
11 New Material Taxonomy
steam fog