Materialien für Designer The Magic of Materials - Creative Industries ...

10 Materials
Auf Spurensuche: Die Paneele von
B.LAB Italia lassen Fußabdrücke
hell leuchten (rechts), Kunststoffe
von IPS wechseln je nach Temperatur
die Farbe (links), Beton wird
lichtdurchlässig (unten) – Effekte,
die beinahe magisch wirken.
Tracking things down: The B.LAB
Italia panels cause the footprints to
light up (on the right), plastic by IPS
changes its color depending on the
temperature (on the left) – effects
that almost seem magical. Below:
light-permeable concrete.
wechseln (Magicolor von IPS), Kunstleder, das bei
Dehnung die Farbe wechselt (Dines), Paneele, die
den Fußabdruck hell erleuchten lassen (B.LAB Italia)
oder Kunststoffe, die Wasser absorbieren und sich
dabei ausdehnen (Industrial Polymers). Besonders
für den Modebereich interessant sind auch hitzesensitive
Anzugstoffe (Sommers Plastic Products), die
unter Wärmeeinfluss einen leichten Farbstich er -
zeugen. Der Stoff wurde jüngst von Calvin Klein für
seine Herrenkollektion genutzt.
In der Architektur wiederum spielen Glasfassaden
eine immer wichtigere Rolle. Profitiert man
im Winter von viel Licht und Wärme, ist ihre Durchlässigkeit
für Strahlung im Sommer jedoch schnell
unangenehm. Abhilfe versprechen hier Verbund gläser
mit thermotropen Eigenschaften, die abhängig
von der Lichteinstrahlung ihre Transparenz so wie
ihre Reflexionseigenschaften verändern können.
Das Fraunhofer IAP in Potsdam arbeitet momentan
an thermotropen, hochreaktiven Gießharzen für
solch e Fens ter, die Solarstrahlung reflektieren – und
zwar unsichtbar und ohne aufwendige Steuerung!
Die Revolution der Materie hat gerade erst begonnen.
Designer und Architekten sind jetzt aufgerufen,
sich das Neue zunutze zu machen und die technischen
Potentiale in sinnvolle Produkte zu überführen
– als Demonstration gegen die Entmaterialisierung
unseres Lebens.
The world of products seems to have lost its material
properties. Music, for example, was once
pressed onto records and inserted into sleeves and
is now experiencing almost no materiality between
sale and playback. It is sold to us on the
Interne t in digital form. And even mp3 players
are now so small you can easily lose them in your
breast pocket. Many different areas of our lives
have long since become virtual, stripped of materials.
In them, there is a perceptible distance to objects
which our grandparents’ generation could
neve r have imagined. With new electronic media,
digital financial cash flows and the omnipresent
Die neuen Materialien haben immer
auch eine reaktive Seite, die
sich erst bei der Nutzung offenbart.
Das Kunstleder von Dines etwa
(links) wechselt bei Dehnung seine
Farbe. Der Kunststoff Hydrospan
von Industri al Polymer s (rechts)
kann Wasser absorbieren.
availability of information the good old mechanized,
tactile world would appear to have come to
an end – something trend researchers have been
predicting for years.
But if you look at the diversity of new materials which
were or will be presented at events this year such as
Material Xperience by Materia in Utrecht, the Caméléon
exhibition by Innovathéque in Paris (until September
2009), Material Vision in Frankfurt (16 – 18 June, 2009)
and not least of all in innumerable material libraries and
data bases, material appears to be returning in full force.
A paradox? Or perhaps the next step in the development
of our product worlds?
In addition to material components in the traditional
sense, what material laboratories are currently
churning out also has a virtual, intelligent side to it: Textiles
respond to temperatures and change shape, stone
becomes permeable allowing light to pass through, electro-active
polymers expand in an electric field and will
influence the characteristics of flying objects in the future,
as morphing materials. This new material, let’s call
it reactive material, has functions which first become apparent
when actually used. Impressive future visions already
have designers’ hearts beating faster as both the
mechanized, long since outmoded understanding of materials
and the virtual nature of our product world are being
revolutionized by a new culture of materials.
In this revolution, the creative agents of our world,
designers and architects, are at the forefront. Who else
should give a sensible application to an invisible function
so it can be perceived by the user? Yvonne Chan Vili, for
example, examined the use of textiles with interwoven
wires made of shape memory alloys, for room dividers
and wall hangings. Shape memory alloy materials record
form information in their molecular structure. At low
temperatures they can be sculpturally formed but when
warmed, resume their original shape and determine the
alignment of the material weave. Shape memory alloy
textiles can be used in strong sunshine for example,
to automatically darken rooms. The Dutch designers
The new materials always have an
intelligent and reactive side to them,
too – something that does not emerge
until they are used. Dines’ artificial
leather, for example (on the left)
changes color if stretched. Hydrospan
plastic by Industrial Polymers
(on the right) can absorb water.
Frederik Molenschot and Susanne Happle are changing
the urban image with an intelligent material: With a special
surface coating they turn sober concrete stepping
stones into a floral pattern when it rains. The hidden decoration
only becomes apparent in public places and
footpat hs when it is wet, establishing a new urban sign
language. The new development named “Solid Poetry”
was presente d by Droog Design back in 2006 at the
Mila n Furniture Fair, and now the first construction with
flower concrete has been completed in Eindhoven.
That said, all of this seems to be just the beginning:
The Innovathèque materials innovation center in
Paris is now presenting a whole range of new creative
materials at the Caméléon exhibition. Through September
it will be presenting, among other things, plastics
that change color according to ambient temperature
(Magicolor von IPS), artificial leather which changes
colo r when stretched (Dines), panels which light up
footstep s (B.LAB Italia) and plastics which absorb water
and expand (Industrial Polymers). Of particular interest
to the fashion industry are heat-sensitive suit materials
(Sommers Plastic Products), which change color slightly
when warm. The material was recently used by Calvin
Klein for his men’s collection. In architecture on the other
hand, glass facades are playing an increasingly important
role. In winter we benefit from more light and
warmth but in summer the radiation which passes
through glass can become unpleasant. Composite glass
with thermotropical properties which can change its
transparency and re flection properties depending on the
light radiation offers help here. The Fraunhofer IAP in
Potsdam is working on thermotropical, highly reactive
cast resin for windows which reflects solar rays – invisibly
and without complex controls no less! The material
revolution has only just started. Designers and architects
are called upon to make use of the new and to convert
technical potential into sensible product worlds – in a
demonstration against the immateriality of our lives.
www.modulor.com
Materials 11