New Materials in Architecture: A Pedagogical Approach to Materials by Design
Authors:   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Draper Joshua , Rosenberg Daniel ,   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Tsamis Alexandros ,   Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Published: May 2023

In recent years, materials have emerged as a focus of architectural pedagogy. Beyond teaching students to think of materials in architecture as part of the design process, the ambition here is bolder: to design architecture means to design materials. Conversely, materials in architecture should not be thought of as a matter of choice, as from a catalog, but rather as an explicit design objective. This paper examines a Framework for a Pedagogical Approach to Materials by Design. While we explore the idea that we design material as we design form, we shouldn’t have to choose between the two. It does not have to be the one way relationship of form to material. This relationship has been disrupted by recent advances. In Materials Science, the term Materials by Design refers to “computational materials prediction approaches, corresponding advanced synthesis and characterization methods” for the purpose of accelerating material innovation. However, this approach is limited to optimization at small scales. Here we expand the term to approach the design of materials through a multi-scalar evaluation framed by their structural, energetic, ecological, social and cultural performances.. Composite materials have caught the attention of designers and scientists alike as a paradigmatic counter-example to industrial production of assemblies for the built environment. The efficiency in the use of materials, economy of production and the reduction of CO2 emissions have become common place discussions among practitioners of architecture. Composites seem to promise a viable way forward. Composites also present unique formal and performative potentials for architecture. Moreover, they tend to require design of new fabrication methods. As such, composites are the focal, but not the exclusive, effort of the framework. The Materials by Design Framework is taught through our Materials Systems and Production class. Four successive engagements with materials, from their cultural positioning, to their ecological and scientific characterization, culminate in the design and fabrication of functional composites for architecture. Material Cultures: Beginning with the history of materials, students develop timelines exploring the feedback loop of culture and materials. Material Selections: Using CES EduPack software, students encounter a vast expansion of materials available to architecture paired with workflows to select specific materials for given functions. Material Ecologies: Circular economies and the emerging role of waste in design are presented. Students develop lifecycle and embodied energy analyses of emerging materials. Materials by Design: Students develop a parametric sensibility of materials, providing inspiration and precedent for later invention. A literature review of existing technological and biological composites is performed. Students design material library “cards” for all researched examples generating their own taxonomic system and a basis for their own designs. Then, through the virtual “cross breeding” of material properties, students rigorously evaluate materials by compatibility and difference. The pairings of performances such as opacity and transparency, structure and insulation pose challenges and opportunities for fabrication and design. Composite samples, which we term Materials by Design, are fabricated in a consistent format, a “core sample”, to test and compare design hypotheses.