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Materials science and architecture

Nature Reviews Materials volume 2, Article number: 17082 (2017) Cite this article

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Abstract

Materiality — the use of various materials in architecture — has been fundamental to the design and construction of buildings, and materials science has traditionally responded to needs formulated by design, engineering and construction professionals. Material properties and processes are shaping buildings and influencing how they perform. The advent of technologies such as digital fabrication, robotics and 3D printing have not only accelerated the development of new construction solutions, but have also led to a renewed interest in materials as a catalyst for novel architectural design. In parallel, materials science has transformed from a field that explains materials to one that designs materials from the bottom up. The conflation of these two trends is giving rise to materials-based design research in which architects, engineers and materials scientists work as partners in the conception of new materials systems and their applications. This Review surveys this development for different material classes (wood, ceramics, metals, concrete, glass, synthetic composites and polymers), with an emphasis on recent trends and innovations.

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Figure 1: Material property (Ashby) plots for different classes of construction materials.
Figure 2: Properties of wood, as well as architectural and design insights from botanical
Figure 3: Ceramic characterization and production from the nanoscale to the macroscale.
Figure 4: Modern advances in metal structural characterization and architectural applications.
Figure 5: Recent advances in concrete characterization and fabrication.
Figure 6: Glass processing and architectural applications.
Figure 7: Scales of analysis and design in composites science.
Figure 8: Polymer research from the nanoscale to the macroscale.

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Acknowledgements

The research presented here draws on collaborations between the Harvard Graduate School of Design, the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, the Harvard Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, the MIT Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, and the Nanyang Technological University School of Materials Science & Engineering. In particular, the authors thank Joanna Aizenberg, Katia Bertoldi, David Mooney, Allen Sayegh, Chuck Hoberman, Neri Oxman, Admir Masic, Peter Fratzl, Mason Dean, John Dunlop, Matt Harrington, Lorenzo Guiducci, Ali Miserez, Jack Mershon, Jonathan Grinham, Tiffany Cheng, Kelley Hess, Sarah Norman, Saurabh Mhatre, Malika Singh, Kevin Hinz, Daekwon Park, Olga Mesa, Philseok Kim, Johannes Overvelde, Jack Alvarenga, Onye Ahanotu, Kenneth Park, Benjamin Hatton and Luo Gu for their contributions to this work.

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  1. Graduate School of Design, Harvard University,

    Martin Bechthold

  2. Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Cambridge, 02138, Massachusetts, USA

    James C. Weaver

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Bechthold, M., Weaver, J. Materials science and architecture. Nat Rev Mater 2, 17082 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/natrevmats.2017.82

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