191produced ornamentation. A distinctive formal language can
be developed from the specific possibilities of treatment that
are available to a given material.
Materials address our senses to varying degrees, attract
us, want to be touched, and either bring us into physical con-
tact with the architecture or hold us at a distance. The impact
of materiality may single out special features, as with the mo-
saic cladding of a mihrab, or may generate emphasis through
its uniformity. Various forms of perception work together.
Contributing to the stony aura of a Romanesque church, for
example, are its closed, unified mass, its solidity, the coolness
inside, and the hard acoustics, which reinforce one another to
express invulnerability and permanence. A wooden cabin in
the mountains, on the other hand, evokes the impression of a
rough case through the interplay of fibrous materiality, resin-
ous aroma, sonorous creaking, and warmth to the touch.
For the most part, the properties of materials are not
perceived in isolation, but in their interaction with other ma-
terials, which modulate, contrast, or accentuate one another.
In the right proportions, a variety of materials can be coordi-
nated with one another to shape the atmosphere of the room
so that it ‘resounds’ with a characteristic chord. ‘It vibrates
with gaiety,’ commented a contemporary on the boudoir in
the Villa Müller, where Adolf Loos combined panelling in
satinwood veneer and fine cretonne with rose-patterned up-
holstery. Another example is Erwin Heerichs’ exhibition pa-
vilions in Hombroich, whose rough exterior in reused clinker
brick contrasts with the gleaming white plastered surfaces of
the interior walls in a way that is reminiscent of a winter coat
in coarse material with a fine silk lining. Complementing this
harmony through modulating intermediate tones are natural
wood doors lined with sheet metal.
The differentiated deployment of materiality clarifies
architectural structure through contrasts of materials at sig-
nificant locations such as bases, edges, apertures and mould-
ings, or the concretization of architectural situations with