Azure – March 2019

From the Editor

At the most recent World Architecture Festival, held in late November in

Amsterdam, a typically illustrious lineup of design stars (Rem Koolhaas,

David Adjaye, Jeanne Gang) held court on the festival’s main stage, while the

architects whose work was nominated for awards (there were 535 shortlisted

projects from 57 countries) gave live presentations to the international jurors

deliberating over them in tent-like venues on the sidelines. Amid all the glitter

and glad handing, however, a significant chunk of the festival floor was devoted

to one of the most elemental aspects of design: materials. Called I Am Material,

this dedicated pop-up space hosted by Material District showcased 100 building

products from around the world. It was a prominent reminder that even the

loftiest skyscrapers and most ambitious museum projects are in the end the sums

of contingent parts – large and small, humble or advanced – supplied by the

manufacturers that make architecture possible.

Of course, the materials on display at the WAF went beyond mere bricks and

mortar. Among the products that I came across as I explored I Am Material were

bricks made of recycled newspapers (industrial-grade strength guaranteed)

and wall panels coated with coffee grounds (complete with an intense coffee

fragrance). By coincidence, the Azure team had been simultaneously working

on this issue, which is devoted to Products and Materials. One of the companies

that exhibited at the WAF – Austria’s Organoid Technologies – is among the

manufacturers featured in “It’s All Material” (page 74), our look at some of

the most cutting-edge yet commercially viable materials on the market right

now, from next-gen rammed earth to terrazzo with origins in demolition waste.

Given these aligning stars, there is clearly a growing interest in all corners

of the architecture world to develop and exploit alternatives that perform

as well as plastics or concrete, but are also gentler on the planet. And the list

of manufacturers eager to supply them is also increasing.

These days, the sustainable material with the greatest potential for

revolutionizing design is wood, which our Insight subject on page 30, Italian

architect Matteo Thun, calls “the material of the future.” As Thun states in the

interview, the pergola-style facade he designed for a new hotel in Switzerland

is composed of local larch, but facades are just the beginning. As recently

as a decade ago, skyscrapers made of wood seemed like a hippie pipe dream.

Now, however, tall timber towers are being built from Tokyo to Toronto. In the

case of wood and indeed of building materials in general, the sky is literally

the limit. We hope that this issue inspires you to explore some of the available

options yourself.

Danny Sinopoli, Editor

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