Concrete
Concrete has been often used in construction since ancient Roma. Concrete is a stable material with high compressive strength that is most majorly used in construction even today. It is also highly versatile material that can changed in different forms depending on its finish. Portland cement is a widely used mixture of sintering limestone, clay, shale, sand, iron ore, bauxite, etc. Today, we commonly make concrete by mixing water, cement, stone and sand, but it can be strengthen by mixing other material such as metal. Cement is a liquid form of concrete that can be casted to solid forms.
Church of Light, located in Osaka, is designed by an architect, Tadao Ando. It is a great example of concrete structured design that huge blocks of casted concrete structure. Its structure is stable even though a huge crossing gap is on the wall. The casted form of concrete design has very neatly finished edges. Cast
Lincoln Center had terrazzo floor which is concrete with other chuck of dark colored element. The floor had interesting very balanced pattern.
Wood
Wood is one of the oldest material human has been using for construction. It is most commonly found material. Physical properties of wood are hardness varies, dense, insulated, thermal insulation, electrical insulation, porous, mechanical resistance and color. Ecological properties of wood are renewable, biodegradable and recyclable. Manufacturing process can be removing the bark, sawing, dying, and planing. The forms can be shape of board, square section, dowel, sheet and mould. MDF, plywood, chipboard, and veneer are commonly used in construction. The wood require finishing for durability. The finishings are various such as pigment, green wood, stain, dye, wax, oil, varnish, resins and lacquer.
Longaberger’s Giant Basket building is very impressively built with wood. A impressive part of this construction is that it is made out of its local resource, Ohio wood. As an architectural designer, utilizing local resource is important.
Feit shoe store in manhattan has interesting layers of plywood interior design. The layering design works well with lighting and shadow design.
Stone
Most commonly used stones are marble, basalt and sandstone. Marble is a soft textured stone that is created from the earth’s crust through the metamorphic process. Basalt is an extrusive hard stone. Sandstone is a soft stone that is formed by binding with cements. The finishings are vary such as polishing, honing, rigato, bush-hammering.
Casa Mila is a building in Spain that is very open-space design. It is designed with curved stones that has very smooth surface. The design of the building has no restriction of forming.
Grand Central Terminal is located in Manhattan. It is made out of three different types of stones. The structure is very stable with the huge stone columns and arch form ceilings, which supports its weight.
Glass
Glass was first made in 500 BC, and it is one of the most versatile and oldest material in the architectural industry. It is well known transparent material, but it can be opaque by mixing other materials. Also, mixing other materials can strengthen it. It can control the amount of heat transfer by controlling U value. Greenhouse effect and acoustic control are very useful functions. In order to manufacture glass, materials need to be melted in extremely high temperature. Glass has varied types such as float glass, tinted glass, toughened glass, laminated glass, extra clean glass, double glazed glass, chromatic glass, glass wool and glass blocks. Finishing can done by dichroic coating, powerder coating and mirror coating. Dichroic coating has multiple layers that can provide color reflection. powder coating provide color, it is a tradition method. Mirror coating provides its unique pattern surface for reflection.
John Lewis Department store has incredible quality of glass design on the exterior surface of the building. It is designed with lots of individual glass pieces that provides multiple reflection on the surface that sparkling during daytime.
Alice Tully Hall has a glass wall system called the curtain wall. The first floor has ceramic frit windows that provides unique sunlight through the interior space.
Metal
Metal has multiple properties such as shiny, density, strength, high-melting point, conductor of electricity and heat. It can be manufactured by casting, molding, machining, finishing, joining, additive, mining. Metals are usually aluminium, titanium, iron, nickel, copper, zinc, silver, gold, tin, lead, steel, brass, stainless steel and pewter. They usually have forms of sheets, wire, pipes, and mesh in the architectural industry. Metal can be recycled by melting and reforming.
De Young Museum has used perforated copper sheets to design the entire space. The reflection on its surface is very impressive. The rough bumpy texture of surface gives unique reflection design.
Apple store has very neat interior design with anodized aluminium and stainless steel. The interior design is the branding concept that reflects on apple products, anodized aluminium is used.
Plastic & Textiles
Plastic is a manmade material consisting of any synthetic organics that are malleable and can be molded into solid objects. It is cheap and light material, but it is a harmful material for the environment.
Textile is a flexible material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres. The original material are collected by harvesting or cultivating cottons. It has flexibility, warmth, and beautiful design that it is often used for interior design.
