CONTENTS
Why Material Design? 8
Foreword by Erwin Viray
The Alternative Approach: 10
Observation, Speculation,
Experimentation
Thomas Schropfer
The Material-Design Connection 10
Material Studies in Practice 13
New Materials: The Architect's Role 19
Quality, Craft, and Culture 21
in Material Design
Technology, Representation, 23
Communication
Inherent Expression: 25
A Greater Understanding of
Materials' Potential for Expression
Sca\e-\ess Design and 30
Material Processes
Notes 33
Difficult Synthesis 34
Nader Tehrani
Introduction: Language and Surplus 34
A Discipline in Search of a Medium 34
Beyond Paper: 36
Reclaiming Material Agency
Inputs, Constraints, and Intents 39
Digital Research 40
The Acrobatics of the Cover-Up 41
Performance and Its Predicaments 43
Difficult Synthesis 44
Notes 47
Aggregation 48
Nader Tehrani and Justin Fowler
Tectonics 48
The Architectural Figure Configured: 48
Part-to-Whole Relations
Patterning and the Problem of 51
the Corner
Two- and Three-dimensional Patterns 52
Conclusion 61
Joints and Junctions 62
Thomas Schropfer and Elizabeth Lovett
The Role of Detailing in the Act of 62
Architecture
Fabric and Figure in Architectural 65
Joinery
American and Japanese Joinery: 68
Conditions of Complexity
Constraints of Description: 69
Utzon and Gehry
Notes 75
Weaving: The Tectonics of Textiles 76
Toshiko Mori
The Process of Weaving 76
A New Conception of Surface 79
Innovations and Applications in 80
Engineered Textiles
Technology Transfer: 83
Boat Hulls to Architecture
Notes 87
Modulation: Transformation 88 by Shaping and Texturing
Thomas Schropfer
Modulating Modulation 88
Modulating the Shaped 94
Modulating the Shapeless 96
From Technique to Architecture 102
Notes 105
Capturing the Ephemeral 106
James Carpenter
Volumetric Light 106
Latency 108
Expanding the Boundary Between 111
Inside and Outside
Transparency, Reflection, 112
and Refraction
Responsive Planes 112
Reconnecting to Natural Events 117
Responsive Materials 118
Sheila Kennedy
New Materials, New Models of 118
Practice
Hybrid Materials 118
Design in the Fourth Dimension 118
The Power of the Many 120
Responsive Systems: Potentials for 120
New Environmental Practices
Pushing the Envelope 121
Interactive Environmental Media: 121
Emerging Design Strategies
Notes 131
Materializations of 132
Nanotechnology in Architecture
Peter Yeadon
Four Approaches to Nanotechnology 132
in Design Innovation
By Mimesis 132
By Application 136
By Experimentation 139
By Speculation 142
Notes 147
Encoding: Digital & Analogue 148
Taxonavigation
Liat Margolis
Newness 148
Genre: Unclassifiable 154
Material Collections 155
Analogue 158
Digital 160

Notes 163
The Future of Material Design 164
Thomas Schropfer
Material Technologies 164
Design Methods 171
The Problem-Solving Approach: 181
Pitfalls and Challenges
Notes 185
Appendix
On the Author and the Contributors 186
Index of Names 188
Subject Index 190
Illustration Credits 192