Information Materials: Smart material based architectural design

This paper questions the current use of materials in architecture, which furthers the preference of surface and form over inherent material properties. It then investigates recent advancements towards the notion of a Digital Materiality, comparing various international research activities and approaches. It concludes with the potentials of Smart Materials for the creation of dynamic, adaptive spatial design. With a focus on the work of the Author it represents a number of projects that have been realized in this area within the past years and gives an insight in his recently established Materiability Research Network, a community platform that reveals Smart Materials, their properties and how to self-make them in an applied hands-on manner