Symbiosis: An Exploration into the Relationship Between Material and Building

Abstract

This thesis is an exploration of the relationship between buildings and the materials they are made of. This thesis strives to bring this relationship to the forefront of the design process. The general use of materials as a decorative cover in most modern buildings rather than an integral part of the building has diminished the role of materials in the design process while also creating a lack of understanding of how to work with those materials. By acknowledging that a building and a material can have a meaningful relationship a new design approach can be used in which the material drives the design. This isn't to say that the relationship is strictly in the aesthetic qualities of the material and building. A truly successful relationship between Material and Building requires a more in-depth understanding of what it means to be that material and use that material, not just its aesthetic qualities. Once an in-depth analysis of the material has been done, ideas of that material can be brought to the forefront in the design of the building. If done successfully the building and material will exhibit a symbiotic relationship in which the building helps define to the user/occupant what it means to be constructed of the material the building is made of, while the material the building is constructed of helps define to the user/occupant what it means to be that building. It is the development and demonstration of this idea that a material and building can have a symbiotic relationship, in which the material and building help define each other, and is the goal that drives this thesis.