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From Kaolin to Kevlar

Abstract Inventing architectural form has always been a dynamic process located at the intersection of immaterialized concept and material construction. Negotiating this relationship requires knowledge of the behavior of materials—their expressive and qualitative attributes and mechanical and physical properties. Knowledge of this kind is used by the designer to assess diverse materials for specific applications. And, while the contemporary designer has access to an increasing number of materials, many are recent inventions themselves, thus precluding an intimate knowledge of their behavior or use in buildings. This paper outlines methods for acquiring and organizing useful information about a wide range of traditional and nontraditional materials with potential for intriguing use in architecture. It identifies the use of multiobjective optimization and material indices as a powerful method for material selection and demonstrates a computational tool that facilitates critical comparisons of new materials. The comparisons are the link between the potential of new materials and contemporary building systems. The work of a graduate research seminar conducted in the Department of Architecture at MIT is given as an example of its application.