Master of Architecture Thesis Rice University 
material


[f60a]
A material study was completed by modeling the same object with different materials, aiming to achieve the same shape. Due to different material natures, some were closer to the original than others. Understanding the effect material can have on an object’s use is critical. This study also helped in conceptualizing the fabrication processes and its relationship with designing objects a certain way. Certain materials inherit specific scales or behaviors, requiring design solutions to react in a certain manner.

[f60b]
A material study was completed by modeling the same object with different materials, aiming to achieve the same shape. Due to different material natures, some were closer to the original than others. Understanding the effect material can have on an object’s use is critical. This study also helped in conceptualizing the fabrication processes and its relationship with designing objects a certain way. Certain materials inherit specific scales or behaviors, requiring design solutions to react in a certain manner.
The consideration of materials was always on the mind in the background while design exploration was occurring through the lens of formal categories and site strategies. Though as the former approaches came to be unsatisfactory, material as a driving factor took the frontline for a moment of time. For this period there was a return to a focus on study models. Rather than playing with formal states different materials can acquire, an exploration ensued of creating the same form in various materials. Different materials had to be manipulated in different ways, where some were permanently affixed in the desired form, and others only temporarily. This study naturally led to the question, is the thesis one about formal qualities or material behavior? This was a moment of reflection and step back on what the thesis was trying to do. A conversation on material introduces layers which pushes the conversation into a different direction than intended. Material brings on the considerations of scale, details, and fabrication. While these are topics that are of interest and have a place in the conversation, the realization and decision was that these are not the primary points of conversation the thesis wants to focus on. The component of scale stays relevant and finds its place, however not in a manner analogous to fabrication and material qualities.

Feyza Mutlu
Master of Architecture Thesis
Rice University School of Architecture linkedin.com/in/feyza-mutlu
fnmutlu1@gmail.com
@fnmutlu1