16 Building Materials that should be known if you think you are an Architect

What kinds of building materials that should be known by heart if you think you are an Architect? Being an architect means you should be familiar with each building materials that were available in the market, the materials which can be magically transformed into a building. Materials for building construction are one of the important aspects to be considered when you are designing a building. Materials are those that affect budgets to be expanding or not. The vibe and people’s perception are also affected by the materials they saw and touched.

We know that every architect had learned about various building materials when they were in college. However, new inventions of building material are always rising in the architect world. Therefore we have intention to give our readers information about building material that every architect should know it by heart.

16 building materials that should be known by an architect

These are 16 building materials, from the most common known to the unknown materials. Have a look.

Concrete

Many architects like to use concrete as a building material for its durability and its accessibility. However, shockingly, the emission of greenhouse gases from concrete is up to 5%. Of course, this fact can create big impact to our environment. If you are interested and looking for information about concrete for designing and construction, you can visit Concrete Center website.

Wood

Wood have been used since a long time ago as building materials. Currently we can find wood materials that are absolutely different with the basic form of wood. We never imagined before that there would be new invention of translucent wood. The designing world are more fun and diverse because of these engineered wood products. For those who are interested to design a building with wood, you can visit Rethink Wood website. They have great collections of wood designs.

Steel

Steel often used as the reinforcement of building construction, but steel is also nice as the face of building. To get further information about steel and the examples of building designs made of steel, you can visit Steel Construction website.

Plastic

Plastic is an unsustainable material that often being the target of people’s underestimation in building materiality. Most people don’t realize that plastic can be used as materials for building construction. Therefore the information about plastic in architecture which you can find in American Chemistry Council can be a good start to learn about this unsustainable material.

Stone

Stone has various textures, colors, and strength, so it is no surprising if you find diversity in architecture designs with stone as its building material. Building Stone Institute is a website that you might want to look at if you are going to work with stone in building construction.

Textiles

Textile is a material with big potentiality in building construction. Currently many architects like to experiment to find out what architecture forms that can be made from textiles. You can get the latest news of textile inventions in Fabric Architecture Magazine.

Glass

Glass often used by architects when they want to enhance the natural lights in a building. Glass is a favorite material in contemporary architect designs. PPG Glass Education Centre is a website that should be visited by those who want to learn about glass materialis.

Brick

Brick is sustainable and durable. Brick is also a good material when you want to create rustic vibe in the building. You should visit Brick Development Association website if you want to get all information about brick.

Kevlar

Kevlar is considered new if you compare it with other materials. However, the popularity of Kevlar is increasing more and more because people begin to understand that this material is not only strong but also has high tensile strength. For more info about kevlar, see here: https://www.zdnet.com.

Bamboo

Bamboo is a great materials for building construction because it is strong and flexible. However, geographic location is one reason why bamboo is not too popular in architecture designs.

Carbon fiber

Carbon fiber become new favorite in architecture designs because it is strong like steel, but it can be easily shaped depending on requirement.

Photovoltaic cells

Photovoltaic cells are not only good to create pleasant look in architecture design, but they can give natural energy for the building. Photovoltaic cells used to always be placed on the roof. Now, they can be placed at anywhere the architect wants to. You might want to visit International Energy Agency to get a handbook that explains how you can use photovoltaic cells in building designs.

Earth

No matter where you are, you always can get earth as building materials. If you like, you can shape earth into various form.

Waste

To protect the environment we can recycle the waste we produced every day into something beneficial to architecture designs, for example, converting plastic bottles to be earthquake resistant walls.

Straw

Straw is often used as building material since a long time ago. Even now, there are many tribes that still using straw for their house. Straw can give protection from rains and create passive thermal environment.

Organic materials

Organic materials from animals and plants are abundant around us. It is time for us to use them as building materials.

Having learned about these materials you might have ideas using them for your next building. If you are in KIIC, Suryacipta or around Jababeka, you can contact us, Nikifour, to help you making your ideas come true using those materials for building construction.

Source: https://www.archdaily.com

Save

Save