"Provides a broad synopsis of the state of technological advances in materials today, with a special emphasis on new developments in the field of biopolymers and various agriculturally derived products; biomimetic products, systems, and processes that seek to emulate natural examples, including low-embodied-energy and biochemically manufactured products; "grown" materials; nanoscale marvels; renewable energy technologies; "second-life" materials derived from repurposed waste; and responsive, interactive, and transformational digital interfaces that harness pervasive communication networks and are powered by low-energy illumination sources."--P. [4] of cover.
Part-to-part relationships and the approach to governing their sensibilities is at the root of all architecture. The need for engaging in a dialogue around these systems is essential to contemporary architectural discourse and practice. Assembly builds on and extends the investigations of materials and representation techniques in the editors’ previous books, Matter and Lineament. This book uses a collection of detailed case studies, explained by first-person authors, about experimental and innovative takes on assembling architecture. Bridging theory and practice, 17 projects and their principled approaches each demonstrate an important vein of inquiry within the topic. Essays probe issues such as latent and overt geometry, fabrication and technology, part-to-part elements, joinery and representation, material vernacular geometries, labor and place-based contextual assemblies, detailing, and pedagogical examinations. This text articulates the traditions and trends of material as the defining premise in the contemporary making of architecture. Its outcomes are applicable to beginning students of architecture and advanced practitioners alike.
New materials are reshaping the world and this reference manual has details on the most interesting and useful new materials now available. Featuring more than 200 materials, this is an essential tool for keeping up with rapid developments in the field or as a source of inspiration for designs.
Virtually every revolution in architecture has been preceded by a revolution in materials: think iron, glass, steel, concrete, plastics, or composites. What is the next revolutionary material that will reshape the very nature of architecture? A solid that's lighter than air, metal latticework so delicate it rests on a dandelion, building insulation made from processed seaweed, self-generating microbial glue that repairs cracks in concrete, or transparent solar panels? Materials expert Blaine Brownell, author of our bestselling Transmaterial series, reveals emerging trends and applications that are transforming the technological capacity, environmental performance, and design potential of architecture in Transmaterial Next. This book is an essential compendium for thinking architects, designers, and other creative professionals passionate about materials and looking for their bleeding edge and practical implementation.
The first book on active matter, an emerging field focused on programming physical materials to assemble themselves, transform autonomously, and react to information. The past few decades brought a revolution in computer software and hardware; today we are on the cusp of a materials revolution. If yesterday we programmed computers and other machines, today we program matter itself. This has created new capabilities in design, computing, and fabrication, which allow us to program proteins and bacteria, to generate self-transforming wood products and architectural details, and to create clothing from “intelligent textiles” that grow themselves. This book offers essays and sample projects from the front lines of the emerging field of active matter. Active matter and programmable materials are at the intersection of science, art, design, and engineering, with applications in fields from biology and computer science to architecture and fashion. These essays contextualize current work and explore recent research. Sample projects, generously illustrated in color, show the range of possibilities envisioned by their makers. Contributors explore the design of active material at scales from nano to micro, kilo, and even planetary. They investigate processes of self-assembly at a microscopic level; test new materials that can sense and actuate themselves; and examine the potential of active matter in the built environment and in living and artificial systems. Active Matter is an essential guide to a field that could shape the future of design.
What can queer feminist writing strategies such as parody and irony do to outsmart the sexism of smart objects, environments and materials and open out the new dialecticism of structure and scale, critique and creativity? Drawing on science and technology studies and feminist theory, this book examines the gendering of current and future media technologies such as smart phones, Google glass, robot nurses, tablets and face recognition. Kember argues that there is a tendency to affirm and celebrate the existence of smart and often sexist objects, environments and materials in themselves; to elide writing and other forms of mediation; and to engage in disembodied knowledge practices. Disembodied knowledge practices tend towards a scientism that currently includes physics envy and are also masculinist. Where there is some degree of convergence between masculinist and feminist thinking about objects, environments and materials, there is also divergence, conflict and the possible opening towards a politics of imedia. Presenting a lively manifesto for refiguring imedia, this book forms an often neglected gender critique of developments in smart technologies and will be essential reading for scholars in Communication Studies, Cultural and Media, Science and Technology and Feminism.
Putting forward an innovative approach to solving current technological problems faced by human society, this book encompasses a holistic way of perceiving the potential of natural systems. Nature has developed several materials and processes which both maintain an optimal performance and are also totally biodegradable, properties which can be used in civil engineering. Delivering the latest research findings to building industry professionals and other practitioners, as well as containing information useful to the public, ‘Biotechnologies and Biomimetics for Civil Engineering’ serves as an important tool to tackle the challenges of a more sustainable construction industry and the future of buildings.
What happens to consciousness during the act of dying? The most compelling answers come from people who almost die and later recall events that occurred while lifesaving resuscitation, emergency care, or surgery was performed. These events are now called near-death experiences (NDEs). As medical and surgical skills improve, innovative procedures can bring back patients who have traveled farther on the path to death than at any other time in history. Physicians and healthcare professionals must learn how to appropriately treat patients who report an NDE. It is estimated that more than 10 million people in the United States have experienced an NDE. Hagan and the contributors to this volume engage in evidence-based research on near-death experiences and include physicians who themselves have undergone a near-death experience. This book establishes a new paradigm for NDEs.
Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Human Systems Engineering and Design (IHSED2023): Future Trends and Applications, September 27–29, 2023, University of Dubrovnik, Croatia
This open access book provides new perspectives on circular economy and space, explored towards the definition of regenerative territories characterised by healthy metabolisms. Going beyond the mere reuse/recycle of material waste as resources, this work aims to understand how to apply circularity principles to, among others, the regeneration of wastescapes. The main focus is the development over time, and in particular the way how spatial planning and strategies respond to new unpredictable urgencies and opportunities related with territorial metabolisms. The book specifically focuses on living labs environments, where it is possible to tackle complex problems through a multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach - including the use of digital spatial decision support environment – which could be able to include all the involved stakeholders. Through a spatial scope of circularity, this book describes several examples including among others ideas from different contexts such as Italy, The Netherlands, Belgium and Vietnam. Through including reflections on methodology and representation, as well as on solutions for circular and healthy metabolisms, the book provides an excellent resource to researchers and students.
