Framed on the presentations 4.10 Designed Objects and 4.17 Life Cycle and Environmental Justice

Projections:
As proposed by Elaine Scarry in her essay: The Body in Pain, the artifacts that we create are embodied compassion of the human experience, bodily and mentally, socially, emotionally, psychologically needs. As a designer, I believe that there personal references to what I create, that I hold responsibility to the life and impact of the artifacts, that the step is to see these objects as non-specific to me, but universal in the manifestations of a human desire. But there is also the fact that these connective compassion is definitely stronger when I am working on creating the object as a one-to-one scale. As an architect, I am removed from the actual construction of the object, my hand is not on the hammer and yet, I am directing the overall location of the nails. That simultaneously, there are two scales at work, intimate versus general. And I think this shift in scales relates to the actual making of artifacts, that the major material used in the final piece is not the only one at play. There are other materials involved in the production of certain objects.

To be continued...

The Problem of Material Ethics

March 20/28, 2009

The building industry has such a large impact on the environment in several ways - from the demolition of the site, to the actual construction and then to the operation of the building’s multiple systems. Areas such as material selections and the installation of certain objects (ex. plumbing fixtures, floor tiles) also contribute to the impact on the environment. It is a difficult line to draw since all areas relate to one another. But to expand into very broad terms, relegates it to generalized grand gestures and less of the specificity in the actual consideration of materials.

In my previous work at a historic preservation architecture office, we considered the intangible in conjunction with the tangible aspects of architecture – that to preserve the original material of the walls (by repairing rather than demolishing) is to maintain the craftwork/intent and the historic significance imbued in the overall structure. But there is a certain compromise in the renovation of these historic structures – where does it become absolutely necessary to recreate the element that was there before? Could something that looked very similar but of a different material be suitable? How much are we actually contributing or taking way from the historic significance of the property by this substitution? What of localism – what if something that was prevalent in the surrounding areas is no longer available and that to obtain that material requires an enormous amount of effort (eg. hardwood)? I feel that the overall gesture of preservation – the recycling of a historic structures sits very well with me, that I can not only believe in the reuse but also in the continuation of the past into the present. But it is in the details that make the work unsatisfying - that to maintain the historic significance is to disregard avenues where one could lessen the impact on the earth, for example, the choice to use a ‘greener’ mechanical system or to minimize the alteration on the historic fabric by choosing a more compact, less intrusive, and less ‘green’ system. Or that the desire for authenticity results in having to order a very specific type of wood from another country. How do we work within this existing framework and determine what can constitute material ethics? Where does one draw the line in regards for ingredients? How much should the intangible (cultural and historical values) affect the intangible? Or is the life cycle of the structure itself (continuing the life cycle of these structures/materials) overrides the need for that specificity? Does the larger picture justify this comparison?

In historic structures, there are varying degrees of intensity. On one side there are the house museums where everything is kept intact - the building’s original function is halted in time. The other side is adaptive use where the building’s function is changed to allow for new programs, new systems and new materials. I am more interested in adaptive use – I am more excited by the navigation of the historic integrity with the introduction of new material/program. Preservation to me at this point, has been always more about the intangibles values imbued in the tangible materials. Compromise is inevitable but compromise as I have seen it, has always come from budgetary, aesthetic and historic concerns rather than environmental ethics. I am mulling over how to reconcile or adjust one’s framework so that this concern for the environment, for our material responsibilities to that of preserving these structures for their historic significance.

Ming's musings, March 6, 2009

Thinking about the framework of the inhabitation of the environment in our design process (from Chris Rose’s article) – how is it that we view the problem, how we decide on what we want in the material, how we want it to act…
It is true that how the fabrication of materials run counter to the way the environment interacts with other members of the living nature family. That harm to the environment is not calculated/considered at all in the numbers of the industrial revolution – that it is only several years after the fact, that industries are forced to find alternative for a more eco-sensitive way to do what it is that they do (i.e. do not dump your toxic waste into the river). But how much of that kind of impetus pushes for a new material to emerge? How much of those big industries with their tried and true product really investigate for a new material (process and product). I wonder how much emphasis should be spent on the new eco-sensitive material investigation when in fact that arena is insignificant compared to the production of existing materials – that perhaps our focus is not so much on the new, undiscovered, uninvented but rather toward a modification of the existing harmful, inconsiderate products available on the market. The huge elephant industries needs to change in order to make a significant positive impact on the environment in line with all the little mouse industries – I guess, I feel that clean-up is a major concern in the environment, that it is not enough to be pushing for new frontiers. So much of the environmental problems facing us now are pressing and that it is all about just trying to get the water out of the boat as fast as possible instead of thinking about a new motor.
Biomimicry is a rather exciting field in that science and technology are looking to what was around us all this time, to learn how to design things that can do things more efficiently. Indigenous crafts and technology is so fascinating in that sense, in that there is this high level of sensitivity to the system that is the environment (a pause to look around) so that their products retain draw upon that. I think a lot of our products have no sensitivity to how it works with other products, that it lacks that integration to what surrounds us so much. That there is in mind, this cycle, of birth and death and rebirth, that there is none of this synthetic, cooked materials that cannot be put back into the ground.

Ceramics studio visit

The beginning stages of ceramic pottery : clay from the bag to prep work for the wheel.




Addition of water in order to manipulate the clay on the wheel. Not exactly a change of state but perhaps a change in material properties as the clay absorbs the water.










Leftover clay pieces are discarded in a bin with water to be recycled.















Above: Bisque pieces; bisque meaning that the clay pieces have been fired in the kiln and are now ready for the application of glazing paint.



Glazing powders - classified by their chemical names. Perhaps there is the addition of other chemicals to create the glazing liquid...



A sample wall of glazed clay pieces that shows the color and sheen of the glazing after the clay piece has been fired for the second time.






A final piece.

The process of ceramics is about stages of phase transformation of the initial material (clay). Through the addition of water, the clay can be manipulated to any shape and forms . Then a minor subtraction of the water through air-drying, only to be sent through an intense firing process that pulls out all the water inside the clay, creating new bonds to harden the clay. I am curious about the process of glazing - how exactly does that glazed paint affix itself to the bisque clay, why is it necessary to send the entire artifact back into the kiln - how does this differ from other color-application process? How does this chemical reaction/process affect the design process/experimentation of the ceramic artist? questions questions...

Printmaking - Intaglio Studio

Entering the intaglio studio, my eyes were immediately drawn to the huge Hazard Information poster up on the wall. It appears that the process of intaglio employs materials both ‘natural’ (meaning can be found as in earth for example, the copper plate that the image is incised on) and composite materials (ferric chloride bath for the newly incised plate), several of which are rather harmful to the human body.

The Intaglio Studio

Example of incised copper plate. The copper plate first had to be covered with hardground (see image below: a composite of organic materials - unknown constituents) and then incised using a variety of steel-formed tools.

Hardground are made in-house by the faculty and monitors -above are some of the material ingredients (most of them are composite materials).

Etching ink paint in jars: jelly-like. Label: chromium green oxide etching. There was a note reminding students to put the lid back on the jar.

The ferric chloride acid bath - after incising the image on the plate, one needs to put the copper plate in the bath to create certain effects in the copper plate such as glossy areas where the paint will not adhere. Always wear gloves when using this bath....

Finally, the paper to print on, a composite material but one that has been in use for a very long time.

The studio was a mix of both modern and traditional equipment – from the huge manual press to the number of bottles and jars littering pockets of the studio. Just looking at the chemicals inside those containers made me wonder how much of these composite materials were newly introduced as new technology was created and how much was retained. There is an entire history of everyday chemicals that I am so unaware of – like all the composite materials that are formed through a chemical process: baby oil, vinegar, alcohol, petroleum jelly, gum Arabic, etc. But there are also natural materials in use such as water, salt and copper. Timing is also critical in this process where leaving the incised copper plate in the acid bath can damage the image or the pressing the paper onto the inked copper plate needs to be done immediately.