Abstract
This paper aims to outline a framework for a deeper connection between experimentally obtained material knowledge and architectural design. While materials and architecture in the process of realisation are tightly connected, architectural design and representation are often distanced from the material domain in which the construction eventually will happen. In many cases, it can seem that materials play the role of a selection of building blocks from which a determined architectural vision or representation are tried to be build. Research in materials, materials behaviour and new materials are often quite technical and oriented towards the field of engineering. Often cost, efficiency, optimisation and specific functional properties are the driving forces in material research. While this is extremely relevant in relation to new building strategies, material research can potentially also play another role in relation to architectural production. It is, in this paper, the intention to point at material research as an active initiator in explorative approaches to architectural design methods and architectural representation. This paper will point at the inclusion of tangible and experimental material research in the early phases of architectural design and to that of the architectural set of tools and representation. The paper will through use of existing research and the author’s own material research and practice suggest a way of using a combination of digital drawing, digital fabrication and material experiments to take advantage of experiential, material knowledge in the creation of architectural ideas and design.
Keywords
Materials driven design; material research; digital fabrication; exploratory approaches; architectural design
DOI
http://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2015.116
Citation
Kruse Aagaard, A.(2015) Materials Driven Architectural Design and Representation, in Bang, A. L., Buur, J., Lønne, I. A., Nimkulrat, N. (eds.), EKSIG 2015: Tangible Means – Experiential Knowledge Through Materials, 25–26 November 2015, Kolding, Denmark. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2015.116
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Materials Driven Architectural Design and Representation
This paper aims to outline a framework for a deeper connection between experimentally obtained material knowledge and architectural design. While materials and architecture in the process of realisation are tightly connected, architectural design and representation are often distanced from the material domain in which the construction eventually will happen. In many cases, it can seem that materials play the role of a selection of building blocks from which a determined architectural vision or representation are tried to be build. Research in materials, materials behaviour and new materials are often quite technical and oriented towards the field of engineering. Often cost, efficiency, optimisation and specific functional properties are the driving forces in material research. While this is extremely relevant in relation to new building strategies, material research can potentially also play another role in relation to architectural production. It is, in this paper, the intention to point at material research as an active initiator in explorative approaches to architectural design methods and architectural representation. This paper will point at the inclusion of tangible and experimental material research in the early phases of architectural design and to that of the architectural set of tools and representation. The paper will through use of existing research and the author’s own material research and practice suggest a way of using a combination of digital drawing, digital fabrication and material experiments to take advantage of experiential, material knowledge in the creation of architectural ideas and design.