This results in a material with enhanced structural properties. Material that has the ability to sense, record, decide and react. Materials used in architecture are crude by comparison. Bulk materials are stacked, poured, rolled or extruded into shapes and sawn to size. Site assembly methods are inexact processes undertaken in uncontrolled conditions.
Composite structures represent a significant increase in capability.
Analytic techniques are used for the definition and decomposition of the problem which is then solved as a series of relatively isolated tasks - a specialized material becomes integrated into the larger scale component to accommodate each function. This approach is in many respects similar to the way in which contemporary architectural and civil structures are composed. Frequently, the structural solution to a building is optimized in relative isolation to the cladding that envelops it. Issues that arise at their interfaces are resolved as secondary decisions. The composite material tradition brings a similar process to bear on the individual component, significantly increasing its capabilities at that scale, and increasing enormously the capabilities of the larger-scale structure into which the individual components are united.