Task 2 Materiality

Concepts of Materiality


My concepts for this topic were purely based around Aalto's ideas of mimicking the external environment through the materials he used. His focus was primarily on timber for materials and this became a strong point for where to start composing ideas.


1. Column Structure and Interwoven Glass - My concept here was to show how the Villa Mairea much like a tree of the surrounding environment uses timber as a support structure. The timber is strong and dark much like the birch trees which surround the Villa. The Villa itself represents a continuation of these timber structures into the building. The concept behind the glass interwoven between the columns is that the glass represents a point at which the exterior can be seen from the interior, whereby long horizontal windows give views of the surrounding landscape, and with the timber structure of the building feels like the building continues the materiality of the external environment.

 2. Hard to Soft Transition of Materials - This is a fairly simply concept whereby as you enter the building the materials become softer.

 3. My last concept for Materiality was the first step towards my final model for this topic. It looked at the relationship between the columns structure and how the materials used for these were able to allow the building to relate to the surrounding landscape.