Jeffrey Sipprell

January 2, 2006

Material Innovations

The November issue of Architectural Record included their annual "Innovation" supplement which contained some pretty interesting articles on digital fabrication and materials research. It's definitely worth checking out the full text if you get a chance, but if you can't - here's a quick rundown on some of the pretty cool stuff that was shown in the materials article.

Everyone's probably familiar with the research that OMA does, but if not here's an upclose look at the material they call "FOAM" which was developed exclusively for PRADA and is showcased here in Los Angeles. The sponge-like polyurethane material can be used to build furniture and partitions as well as entire spaces. Hundreds of prototypes of the material were made to achieve the right balance of openness, translucency, depth, and color. As someone who has seen it up close and personal, I can honestly say I wish the shit wasn't propietary.

BL Special was developed by Steven Holl Architects for the assembly of complex interior fabrications. BL Special laminated panels were designed to be easily cut and modified using computer-driven processes, such as water jet, laser cutting, and CNC punching. The lightweight panels are made of three core materials - ultrathin wood veneer, paper, and fabric - that are laminated together to allow them to remain rigid enough to produce partitions or enclosures.

Flexicomb flexible polypropylene honeycomb panels have been developed by Los-Angeles based padLAb. Flexicomb can be bent, sprung, or compressed to form sculptural installations, lamps, desktop accessories, and furniture prototypes. Right now only limited edition sculptural Flexicomb lights are for sale at $400-450.

Industrial designer/architect Giovanni Pagnotta's line of lightweight carbon fiber furnishings includes high and low tables, seating, and a rechargeable light. His prototype line of carbon fiber furniture demonstrates what can happen when a material is taken to extreme limits of its strengh-to-weight ratio. His Z5 chair, for example, is constructed entirely of carbon fiber, layered in plies to created an extremely thin profile. The Z5 weighs only 14 pounds, with a maximum thickness of half an inch, yet can carry 3,000 pounds with no indication of impending structural failure. You can purchase a Z5 for a cool $3,800, though it may drop to $1,200 if they go into more sustained production.

Living Surfaces, developed by B.Lab from Gallarate, Italy, are tabletops and floor tiles comprised of layers of plastic sheets encapsulating nontoxic liquids. The liquids move and bubble in various ways depending on touch, depicting constantly changing patterns. The bichromatic floor tiles generate colorful shapes in continuous transformation, and walking on them leaves a trail of footprints. They are made of two shock-resistant plastic layers, with the top layer treated with a non-slip surface. Floor tiles are $65-85/sf, tabletops are $400-800 per unit, Living glass panels are $100-180/sf.

SensiTile Technology allows various materials to react to changes in light intensity and color. Using the same principle that makes fiber optics possible, the embedded light conducting matrix in a SensiTile material either reconfigures the shadows that fall on it or redirects and scatters any oncoming light. SensiTile Scintilla tiles are $140-190/sf, SensiTile terrazzo tiles are $60-90/sf.

Posted by jsipprell at 10:42 PM | Comments (0)