Materiality is a tool in which should be incorporated into the performative deign, but also allows a design to enhance a form or space and invoke different emotions.
"First, material artifacts engage us with all our senses. Materiality comprise physical properties such as texture (roughness or smoothness, details), geometry (size, shape, proportion, location in space, and arrangement in relation to other objects), material (weight, rigidity, plasticity), energy (temperature, moisture), as well as dynamic properties. Many of these properties are 'dimensions of touch'. Secondly, our interactions with materials are not just 'physical' but they spur our thinking, help us communicate ideas that would be difficult to communicate through words alone, adding an 'experiential' dimension to our action. While the concept of affordances of artifacts is fundamental to an analysis of the use of material artifacts, it is not sufficient for addressing the very intricate interrelationships that emerge in people's interactions with and through artifacts." (Giulio Jacucci)
Materiality and technology can go work together to develop a new sense of space and better connect the structure to the people within it. If you create an interactive space using forward technology, people can physically engage with a structure and find something intriguing to generate a sensual space in which people can connect. This creates an effect of plasticity to give a human scale three dimensionality people can relate to better. This is produced by installations and smaller scale designs to fit within the larger structure and become more of an art than architecture. The point of installations is to develop a way in which people can better understand the conceptual background of architecture and see that it's a larger scale piece of art.
Exhibition design mirrors the process of architectural design at a much smaller scale and encourages the enhancement of spaces by adding a new element of intrigue. The benefit of installations is that they can be either permanent or temporary and allow architects to hone in on their skills by focusing on a much smaller scale project to concentrate on details. Exhibition design and temporary installations are the second way to create these unique spaces and are the focus of today's architectural role to society. A temporary installation helps the designer most by allowing them to test materials and concepts on a smaller scale to see how people respond and give the designers feedback on whether or not the design would work on a larger scale.
"During their short-lived existences, these installations are visited by a large number of people, allowing the architect to evaluate how well the proposal functions and whether or not it is accepted by the general public. Their temporary quality also means that they can be easily forgotten if unsuccessful. Today this type of construction has become a model to follow when it comes to projecting permanent buildings: solutions, which adapt to a low budget, a quick construction process, and even the need to be transportable, have been used by many architects in the conception of perennial buildings. The Tomihiro Museum is a good example, since the simplicity of the assembly process draws on an ephemeral construction." (Bonet)
If you were to use different case studies to explore the success of exhibition design, one to focus on is the Blur Building designed by Diller Scofidio Renfro. This is a lucrative design, which incorporates materiality, or immateriality in this example, research, environmental progress, evokes personal experience and connectivity, and performative design in one exhibition. The project is meant to be an experiment in de-emphasis on an environmental scale, used to awaken the senses and create a unique experience in an otherwise improbable scenario. The construction itself is a simple lightweight structure spanning 300 feet wide by 200 feet long and 75 feet tall, with four columns supporting the design. The essence of the project is based on the immateriality and the sensual experience meant to gain from it. The structure is a pier in Lake Neuchatel, which is covered in a fog mass caused by both natural and manmade forces. The water is exposed through 35,000 high-pressure nozzles and adjusts with the weather accordingly to create a scenario in which your senses are tampered with. The white noise created by the water is all you hear and your sight tampered with by allowing limited visibility. You are forced to adjust accordingly and become a part of the building because the mist is the only material on the building and there is nothing inside to see. The focus is purely on a personal level of how you experience this unique setting by...
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