CHUNKS

Advanced composites exhibition | Wanted DESIGN Brooklyn 2019 | NYCxDESIGN

In recent years, composite materials have caught the attention of designers and scientists alike as a paradigmatic counter-example to the industrial production of individual part assemblies. Today, in material science and engineering, a special class of composites commonly known as Functionally Graded Materials (FGM) is being studied as a “high performance” and “efficient” way to embed variable behaviors within monolithic objects, reducing weight, part count and assembly processes. In an age where efficiency in the use of materials, economy of production, and the reduction of CO2 emissions have become commonplace concerns among practitioners of architecture, Functionally Graded composite Materials seem to promise a viable alternative.

At CASE we are studying FGMs and their application to the built environment as simultaneous technological and cultural expression. How do material, energy, and information come together to inform the composition of a locally variable material? How does the design of material inform the design of the built environment and what is the expressive and performative potential of non-assembly? We call these materials CHUNKS.

Project Date: 2019

Researchers: Alexandros Tsamis, Joshua Draper, Daniel Rosenberg, Youngjin Hwang, Fengqi Li, lffat Ridwana, Ana Cecilia Toledano, Anthony Ferraiolo, Ziyu Huang, Samantha Krumbhaar, Leo Lai, Kira Xia, Gloria Zhu

Collaborators: Libby Mattern ( Malia Mills ), Andrea Solstad, Luther Davis, and Rebekah Bassen ( Powerhouse Arts)

Production Team: Bill Bergman, Seraphim Lee, Dakota Pace, Edwina Portocarrero, Tom Roland, Jeanette Sardi, Jim Van Duyne

Sponsors: Chromicolor, Matsui, Malia Mills, Powerhouse Arts

Awards: 1st place, Original Concept and Design, WantedDesign Best Design Projects Award 2019, Brooklyn, NY.

Publications:

Draper, Joshua, Daniel Rosenberg, and Alexandros Tsamis. 2020. “New Materials in Architecture: A Pedagogical Approach to Materials by Design.” In OPEN: 108th ACSA Annual Meeting. San Diego, CA.