1. Concrete- What interested me about concrete was the claim that cement is environmentally friendly because it doesn’t emit a lot of pollution in the transportation phase because a lot of concrete can be transported at once. However, the making of concrete and the process that it goes through does happen in factories and it seems as if that cancels out the idea that its environmentally friendly. I really like that they would include Ando as their case study and the church of light because Ando has been working with concrete as his main medium and has really expanded the many uses and techniques of concrete. For example, fast settling concrete and slow settling concrete.

church_of_light_large

2. Glass- I really enjoyed hearing Sofia’s story about Pliny and how this really important material in architecture started from a total accident. Im not sure how factual and reliable her anecdote was but its interesting to think that glass was first discovered from an accidental ship fire. I was also impressed by the technique of glassblowing because I’m sure it requires a high level of craftsmanship. The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art is a building I was interested in reading about and looking at because it really takes light opacity and uses it to its advantage and creates walls that seem to be made out of light.

279759286_2006831nama--0004new

3. Metal- I enjoyed listening to the groups presentation about metal because metal is such a predominant material in todays society and is used in almost every building in NYC as a structural element. I also enjoy metal because of its high level of flexibility and infinite that metal can have. The group spoke about different types of metals, such as lead, iron, steel, and aluminum and explained the fundament differences between metal ore and metal alloys which were terms I’ve heard before but never really knew what they were. metal ores are rocks with metal elements that need to go through a mining process whereas metal alloy do not need to come from rocks. I think the Hearst Tower is an incredible feat in engineering because of the very few metal legs used in order to sustain 45 stories and that is a testament to how strong metal is and what it is capable of. Many of todays marvels wouldn’t be possible without metal.

1000-Hearst-Atrium-large

4. Plastics/Textiles- I found it interesting when Marta mentioned that Textiles weren’t really used in architecture until the turn of the 20th century because she is right, textiles are really an overlooked material in architecture. I believe that has to do with the necessity of having to make a sturdy building and hence, only picking materials that are structural. However, in todays world and thanks to human innovation, textiles can be as much as a part of a building as metal or wood with the help of outside materials. This is evident in the Miroiterie Retail Building that uses textiles as its walls with metal frames as a form of tension and support for the building.

780_627-8232-downloadansichten-Geschaeftshaus-Lausanne_Fassade

5. Stone- Stone and stone building has been a method of architecture that has been around since humans first started building in the neolithic period. What caught my attention about the stones presentation is the properties that they’re classified by and how todays ancient marvels would not be standing had it not been for the desirable climate. What i mean is that the Greek temples are not standing thanks to great craftsmanship and stone qualities, but thanks to the dry climate that prevents mold and live organisms that live within the stones due to precipitation and water in the air. The Casa Mila isn’t really beautiful to me, but it is a great example of what can be achieved with stone and how such a hard material can be sculpted into organic shapes and the applications that stonework has.

Casa_mila_ag1

6. Wood- What really intrigued me about wood is its ability to adapt to the environment in which it is placed and how that gives us different variations of wood. For example, mahogany, which is indigenous to south america was brought over to Africa and that forced mahogany to “evolve” in a sense. This provides craftsmen and architects with options. Wood was the main material used when working on the 2005 Serpentine gallery by Alvaro Siza. What i found particularly interesting about the gallery is that most of the joints used were traditional carpenter techniques applied to a large scaled buildings. Siva used Mortise and Tenon joints are just methods of inserting.

0807_serp2005