top of page
MATERIALITY & IMMATERIALITY
Materiality ? Immateriality ? Is it both the different stuff ? Yes, but however, they are in conjunction instead of opposition. Materiality is the quality of being material; having a physical existence while immateriality is the state of being immaterial; having a chemical senses existence.
“ IN EVERY CASE ONE MUST ACHIEVE A SIMULTANEOUS SOLUTION OF OPPOSITES ” wroten by Alvar Aalto , means we had to find the right solutions in order to solve the particular problem which can lead us in getting a better solution. So by fusing both material and immaterial in architecture, we could improve the current living qualities. This is because material and immaterial take an important roles in this era as both of them create a distinction in modern and contemporary philosophy.
Materiality is more towards the expression of material properties. This can be explained where the materials used in building remain its own value and the people who go into the building still can feel the properties of the materials. For example, Sliding House by dRMM shows us how they interpret the use of materials and still remaining its properties. The glass living room doesn’t covered up by other material which for the purpose of natural light to get in through the glasses of the building during day time. While the timber sliding roof act as a covering that gives shading to the open area and is able to move accordingly (like a tree that gives shading to the land and the shadow cast is different by time to time).
Materiality also explains how the transformation of materials is used in building construction. As the times passed, the materials used are transform to adapt to the current requirements - like before most of the building was built by brick or stone because of the easier construction method; to follow the trend of modern architecture the material also transform to somethings that are more stiffness and last long such as iron, steel and concrete.
Immateriality will be more in human perception or the value judgements. Although uses of man-made materials will cause the loses of its values, however, in return the immaterial architecture give us senses about the building and different immaterial will disseminate different atmosphere depends on the building. One of the immaterial example is the Blur Building. This building creatively use the fog to cover up the building which make it seem invisible and blend into the nature. This also allow the visitors having a 'sense of suspension' where letting them feel like they located at a high area.
For me, I personally think that materiality and immateriality predominantly about the expression of material properties and the value judgements. Both material architecture and immaterial philosophy are in fact interdependent and inseparable; throughout the material used or the senses created , an architect’s design ideas and intention will be more easier to be understand. Like what Adolf Loos states that “ EVERY MATERIAL POSSESSES ITS OWN LANGUAGE OF FORMS, AND NONE MAY LAY CLAIM FOR ITSELF TO THE FORMS OF ANOTHER MATERIALS ”, so for me, I will emphasize more about the usage of material in contemporary architecture , which then discuss about the uses of different materiality to blend with current epoch immateriality architecture style as the world is changing from time to time become a whole new world filled with different types of sensation.
bottom of page