WEBPAGE Material Explorer Newsletter 08-12-2005

Welcome to the sixth Material Explorer newsletter.
At the beginning of 2005, Material Explorer was launched online. Now, nearly at the beginning of 2006, we're happy to have welcomed our 10,000th member, a Spanish architect! The ever increasing growth in membership and the variety in materials proves to us that the idea of starting an online platform connecting architects, designers and innovative manufacturers is a good one. For 2006, we expect to double the number of materials in Material Explorer and launch new services.

In this newsletter we focus on the latest additions to Material Explorer, ranging from Keraflex ceramic tape to Georiflessi glass tiles and many other materials. Special attention is paid to Hi-Macs, a relatively new material with many interesting possibilities used by Zaha Hadid in the Hotel Puerta América. Furthermore we would also like to invite you to come and see Material Skills at the Nordbygg in Stockholm and the Famous Facades exhibition by Materia in Ahoy Rotterdam. Scroll down for dates and times.

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The Material Explorer has been updated with new materials. We will be publishing new additions every week. You can see them here (note: please login for free to see the full details). Below a small selection of the latest additions:


Colour Changing Materials		Expanded Polypropylene		Keraflex		Custom Shaped Stainless Steel		Betonlook


Magic Motion		Jasba		Ceramic Wall Cladding		Georiflessi		Heath Tiles


Monocolor/Bicolor		Electric Plaid		Engineered Cement Composites		Naltex		Metalcast

If you find a new material that might be of interest to the other architects and designers using Material Explorer, don't hesitate to contact us. We will mention your name when the material is published.

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The presentation of Material Skills at Batimat 2005 last November was a great success. In total around 450,000 people visited the show. Of course, we've also found some interesting new materials that will be included in the Material Explorer at the beginning of 2006.

Materia has been invited by the organization of the Nordbygg to present "Material Skills, evolution of materials" in Stockholm during Nordbygg 2006. This will be the Nordic premiere of Material Skills. The Nordbygg is the largest architecture and construction fair of Northern Europe / Scandinavia.

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Materia has been asked by the organization of the GevelTotaal to create an exhibition related to famous façades. The exhibition will be premièred during GevelTotaal 2006 in Ahoy Rotterdam. It will include nine life-size mock-ups of famous façades such as the Prada-store in Tokyo by Herzog & DeMeuron or the WOS8 building by .NL Architects. In addition to the mock-ups, we will also present around thirty samples of innovative and inspiring façade materials.

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Every month we select a material for its interesting sensory or technical properties, or simply because we like it. This month's material is Hi-Macs, a non-toxic solid acrylic material resembling natural stone. Hi-Macs has been used by Zaha Hadid for the interior of Hotel Puerta América in Madrid, Spain. The hotel features rooms with flowing, organic shapes made with thermoformed Hi-Macs.


An organic shaped bedroom by Zaha Hadid		The black version of the bedroom.

Changing moods from bright white....		.... to vibrant red.

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Nowadays, sustainable building and the (re-)use of recycled materials is a popular issue. Below you'll find various examples of materials that have found a new life in a special way. Although some examples might appear a bit strange, they all deal with the issue of lowering the impact on the environment.

Are you someone who always forgets the phone-numbers of people you really should stay in contact with? If so, perhaps you should consider the phone-book house. This project was initiated by professor Richard Kroeker. He considers a compressed phone-book to be a bit like a building brick. Together with a team of architecture students, he has built a one-room house made of around 7000 discarded phone books. The structure of the house is made by a timber frame. The books are held in place by metal brackets. Windows will also be incorporated by using bottles in the façade.
There's no news yet about how the house survived the winter...


"Phone Booth" a house made from 7000 discarded phone-books.

Sometimes the use of waste materials can really benefit people in a direct way. After the big earthquake in Pakistan, recycled advertising billboards were used effectively as rain covers on the tents of earthquake refugees.

Tyres are probably the most widely used products in the world. Everything you've ever bought has most likely been transported by tyres at least once. In the U.S. alone, around 280 million tyres are discarded each year. Around 48 % are recycled, but 52% are put in junkyards, landfills and roadsides. However, tyres can also be used for other purposes:


Dutch member of parliament Krista van Velzen protesting against the increasing number of new roads being constructed in Holland.		Temple at Tyre, 6000 tyres used by David Mach to create a temple.

Construction of Temple at Tyre.		The temple showing off its surface of tyres.

http://www.recyclicity.net - a comprehensive website with the aim to make waste suitable as a building material while adding the least possible energy for transport and production.

http://www.davidmach.com - a very nice website showing the works of David Mach, ranging from works in public spaces to installations in museums.

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Every now and then a new material is added to the exhibition Material Skills. Of course, these new materials can not be added to the accompanying book Material Skills, because that has already been printed. That's why we have incorporated these extra pages as a downloadable PDF-document on the Material Skills website. The downloads are free and no registration is required.

The many requests for our latest book ‘Material Skills, evolution of materials’ have led us to open our own Materia WebShop, where you can order online and pay by credit card. All orders are processed automatically and shipped by our distributor. If you have not yet ordered your own copy of "Material Skills, evolution of materials", go to our WebShop and order now!

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As you know, Materia is constantly on the lookout for materials with special sensorial or technical properties, or that are used in a special way. If you have suggestions or tips for new materials or new uses of materials, please don't hesitate to contact us at info@materia.nl. We will happily give you credit by publishing your name on our website.

We hope to hear from you soon!