Keeping the material library organized is a difficult task for many architects, let alone keeping it up-to-date with the latest, most innovative materials. Well, today we stumbled on this video, by The Economist, that highlights Andrew Dent, vice-president of Material ConneXion, and his thoughts on the evolution of material science. Material ConneXion has created the world’s largest resource for advanced, innovative and sustainable materials and processes. Their online archive and material libraries, based in seven cities world-wide, feature over 6,500 of the world’s most cutting-edge materials that are all commercially available for use.
Andrew Dent believes Material ConneXion will help bridge the gap between science and design as we move from the “synthetic century” into a “biological century”, where intelligent, nature-inspired materials consume less resources and less energy.
Each month an international panel of experts review 50 to 60 new materials for the library, and only the best are selected.
The archive is organized in these eight categories, which include the largest selection of sustainable materials and the only Cradle to Cradle materials library in the world:
- Polymers
- Ceramics
- Glass
- Metals
- Cement-based materials
- Natural Materials
- Carbon-based materials
- Processes
An online Materials Database and physical materials samples are available. Material ConneXion libraries can be found in the following cities:
- New York
- Bangkok
- Beijing
- Cologne
- Daegu
- Istanbul
- Milan
- Seoul
- Shanghai
