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Material Witness

Through his research, his writing, and his design, architect Blaine Brownell is changing the profession's awareness of building products and materials.

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Material Witness

Through his research, his writing, and his design, architect Blaine Brownell is changing the profession's awareness of building products and materials.

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    Steve West

    Blaine Brownell

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    Despite its bright cover, high-quality paper, and four-color printing, Transmaterial is not your typical architectural book. Sized and styled more like a travel guide, it places maximum importance on informing readers without a lot of distractions, as can be seen in a typical spread.

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    Despite its bright cover, high-quality paper, and four-color printing, Transmaterial is not your typical architectural book.

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    Reinforcing the idea that this is a book to be carried around, thumbed through, marked up, and otherwise used instead of admired, Brownell provides a key to help readers decipher each entry's numerous elements.

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    Brownell is a blogger, twice over. Transmaterial is his continually updated journal of innovative products (none of which appear in the book).

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    Transstudio is a more philosophical effort aimed at engaging people in conversation about diminishing natural resources, the man-made world, and how we can effect positive change. As he notes in his first entry, "Design will play a fundamental role in this new epoch, and creativity will be the ultimate criterion for success. Since new problems will require new solutions, we can only preserve the future by letting go of present conventions."

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Ductal WHAT IT IS: Ultra high-performance concrete ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Partially manufactured from recycled industrial byproducts

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Ductal WHAT IT IS: Ultra high-performance concrete ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Partially manufactured from recycled industrial byproducts

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Sphelar WHAT IT IS: Spherical micro solar cells ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Renewable energy source; less embodied energy; fewer materials than conventional photovoltaics

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Sphelar WHAT IT IS: Spherical micro solar cells ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Renewable energy source; less embodied energy; fewer materials than conventional photovoltaics

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Sphelar WHAT IT IS: Spherical micro solar cells ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Renewable energy source; less embodied energy; fewer materials than conventional photovoltaics

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Aluma Floor WHAT IT IS: Aluminum floor tiles and panels ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Made from recycled postindustrial content; fully recyclable

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Aluma Floor WHAT IT IS: Aluminum floor tiles and panels ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Made from recycled postindustrial content; fully recyclable

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Tingwall WHAT IT IS: Leak-free glazing system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Prevents poor indoor air quality related to mold growth

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Tingwall WHAT IT IS: Leak-free glazing system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Prevents poor indoor air quality related to mold growth

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. Some can be used before the first shovel breaks ground. Others, like Panelite, are among the last things to be put in place. PRODUCT: Panelite WHAT IT IS: Insulated glass unit with tubular polycarbonate core ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recyclable components; natural daylighting; efficient use of materials

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. Some can be used before the first shovel breaks ground. Others, like Panelite, are among the last things to be put in place. PRODUCT: Panelite WHAT IT IS: Insulated glass unit with tubular polycarbonate core ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recyclable components; natural daylighting; efficient use of materials

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. Some can be used before the first shovel breaks ground. Others, like Panelite, are among the last things to be put in place. PRODUCT: Panelite WHAT IT IS: Insulated glass unit with tubular polycarbonate core ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recyclable components; natural daylighting; efficient use of materials

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Ecosmart WHAT IT IS: High-volume fly-ash concrete ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Reduces greenhouse gas emissions; improves long-term strength and durability; reduces the need to put waste materials in landfills

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Ecosmart WHAT IT IS: High-volume fly-ash concrete ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Reduces greenhouse gas emissions; improves long-term strength and durability; reduces the need to put waste materials in landfills

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. = PRODUCT: Terrart WHAT IT IS: Architectural terra cotta façade panels and elements ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Fully recyclable; increases a building's energy efficiency

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Terrart WHAT IT IS: Architectural terra cotta façade panels and elements ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Fully recyclable; increases a building's energy efficiency

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Geometrix WHAT IT IS: Lightweight recycled metal ceramic tiles ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Contains 90 percent recycled content

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Geometrix WHAT IT IS: Lightweight recycled metal ceramic tiles ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Contains 90 percent recycled content

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Durra WHAT IT IS: Lightweight wheat straw and paper construction system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Uses agricultural byproducts and recycled materials; no added chemicals; efficient use of material

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Durra WHAT IT IS: Lightweight wheat straw and paper construction system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Uses agricultural byproducts and recycled materials; no added chemicals; efficient use of material

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: UltraTouch WHAT IT IS: Natural cotton-fiber insulation ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recycled content; no volatile organic compounds or harmful chemicals

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: UltraTouch WHAT IT IS: Natural cotton-fiber insulation ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recycled content; no volatile organic compounds or harmful chemicals

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Syndecrete WHAT IT IS: Recycled-content, precast concrete surfacing material ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recycled carpet fiber, fly ash, and recycled decorative aggregates; no off-gassing

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Syndecrete WHAT IT IS: Recycled-content, precast concrete surfacing material ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recycled carpet fiber, fly ash, and recycled decorative aggregates; no off-gassing

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Syndecrete WHAT IT IS: Recycled-content, precast concrete surfacing material ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Recycled carpet fiber, fly ash, and recycled decorative aggregates; no off-gassing

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Alulight WHAT IT IS: Aluminum foam ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Fully recyclable; efficient use of material

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Alulight WHAT IT IS: Aluminum foam ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Fully recyclable; efficient use of material

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Alulight WHAT IT IS: Aluminum foam ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Fully recyclable; efficient use of material

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Solarwall WHAT IT IS: Solar air panels ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Lowers energy load; reduces fossil-fuel dependency and carbon emissions

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Solarwall WHAT IT IS: Solar air panels ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: Lowers energy load; reduces fossil-fuel dependency and carbon emissions

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Grasspave2 WHAT IT IS: Grass porous paving system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: 100 percent recycled plastic; heat-island and stormwater-runoff mitigation; hydrocarbon filtering; groundwater recharge

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. PRODUCT: Grasspave2 WHAT IT IS: Grass porous paving system ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS: 100 percent recycled plastic; heat-island and stormwater-runoff mitigation; hydrocarbon filtering; groundwater recharge

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. Some, like ERCO Virtual Luminaires, can be used before the first shovel breaks ground. Others are among the last things to be put in place. PRODUCT: ERCO Virtual Luminaires WHAT IT IS: Virtual luminaire models for digital lighting simulation ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Simulation studies may prevent wasted energy from poor lighting solutions

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    PRINCETON ARCHITECTURAL PRESS

    Green and sustainable products come in many forms and exist for every part of a building: inside, outside, and within the ceilings, floors, and walls. Some, like ERCO Virtual Luminaires, can be used before the first shovel breaks ground. Others are among the last things to be put in place. PRODUCT: ERCO Virtual Luminaires WHAT IT IS: Virtual luminaire models for digital lighting simulation ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECT: Simulation studies may prevent wasted energy from poor lighting solutions

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    Princeton Architectural Press

    Aegis Hyposurface: Environmentally responsive architectural surface. Applications: Interactive art, feature wall

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    Princeton Architectural Press

    Protrude, Flow: Magnetic fluid art. Applications: Exhibits, interactive art

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    Princeton Architectural Press

    Wood.e: Electrified preformed wood. Application: Furniture

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    Princeton Architectural Press

    Interactable: Interactive table. Applications: Conference rooms, showrooms, exhibitions

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    NBBJ

    Richlite, the brown panels in the illustration above, was chosen as the cladding for Alley24's housing/retail building, in part because it resists mold so well.

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    NBBJ

    The University Center Office Building incorporates a number of products in its façade.

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    NBBJ

    The University Center Office Building incorporates a number of products in its façade.

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    NBBJ

    The University Center Office Building incorporates a number of products in its façade.

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    NBBJ

    The University Center Office Building incorporates a number of products in its façade, including clear, tinted, and reflective glazing; insulated metal panels; and perforated steel panels. Brownell wants to make use of reused or recycled materials whenever and wherever possible.

Products are the stuff of architecture, in a very literal sense, and yet it's fair to say that the building products industry and the profession of architecture maintain an awkward alliance. As a rule, architectural education prioritizes abstract principles over real-world applications, and in practice, the process of design generally takes precedence over the selection of products. On the other side, manufacturers are creating innovative products all the time—the kinds of things architects should be enthusiastic about—but they have difficulty getting the attention of designers and specifiers.

Enter Blaine Brownell, an associate at NBBJ's Seattle office who keeps busy in his off-hours transforming the profession's perception of building products. Given that the disconnect is partly a matter of marketing, of architects and manufacturers speaking different languages, Brownell's accomplishment begins with a shift of word choice: materials, not products. He uses a mix of media—e-mails, blogs, and more recently a book, Transmaterial: A Catalog of Materials that Redefine Our Physical Environment—to convey a new message about materials: That they can be exciting, surprising, and, perhaps most important, of benefit, not just to buildings, but to people and to the environment.

These days, Brownell is on a leave of absence from NBBJ. Having received a Fulbright fellowship to research sustainable design and material innovations in Japan—which he first experienced as the son of a Fulbright grantee and where he worked as an architect in 1991 and 1997—he's moved his family to Tokyo until next July.

“The thing that drives me,” says Brownell, “is not the subject matter so much as the potential. New materials can be fun to study, but they get really exciting when we use them. And if we can harness the creative energy stored in these new products to create a technologically advanced, intelligently crafted, and ecologically proactive world, wouldn't that be a marvelous thing?” Indeed.

Of Books and Blogs

From the first, Transmaterial was intended to be a wallet- and satchel-friendly addition to the libraries of architects, students, and even nondesigners. “My colleagues, publisher, and I agreed that … to have a significant positive influence, [the book] would have to be accessible, portable, and affordable,” says Brownell. And if the book's pages appear similar to the entries on his Transmaterial blog (transstudio.com/tm)—small images, to-the-point descriptions—well, that was by design too.

The entire project started about six years ago as an occasional e-mail, called “Product of the Week,” that resulted from Brownell's work as a materials researcher. (In November 2005, he started posting his e-mails as blog entries.) Ultimately, the digital medium inspired its paper counterpart. “After all,” Brownell says, “Transmaterial is [meant to be] a gateway to resources. The sooner people can understand … innovative materials, the sooner we can spread innovation within our physical environment.”

He seems to have struck just the right note. The Product of the Week e-mail has 4,000 subscribers, and Transmaterial is already into its second print run after the initial 10,000 copies sold out. “It's one of our best-selling titles,” says Katharine Smalley Myers, publicity director at Princeton Architectural Press. A second volume is in the planning stages.

Brownell's other blog, Transstudio (“a forum for the major environmental, social, and economic issues that are transforming our physical world”), is for the moment on the back burner as he focuses on his research in Japan and maintaining his product e-mails. But he has every intention of rejuvenating it. “It's actually part of a long-term plan to write a book on the subject,” Brownell says.

Keep It Sustainable

As awareness about humanity's impact on the health of the planet continues to grow, green design and sustainability have become hot topics for the architectural community as well as for those who work, live, and play in and around its structures.

Buildings utilize almost half of all resources, notes Brownell. If architecture is ever going to maintain an ecological footprint more in balance with the requirements of its context, he says, then change needs to begin with the people who create the built environment. “[We] must place as much emphasis on research and teaching as [we] do on practice,” he says. “In addition to function and form, I believe that architecture must have foresight.” As he defines it, foresight considers the “entire ecology” of the material and energy resources that go into a building.

To that end, throughout his book Brownell makes a point of noting, when applicable, the environmentally friendly aspects of a product or material—whether it's how it is manufactured; the benefits it confers to buildings, their users, and the surrounding environment; or how it can be put back into the production stream. Shown on these two pages is a small sample of what he's discovered.

Futureworld

Not everything in the Transmaterial universe has an obvious use. Throughout Brownell's book and blog are entries on products and materials with names like Body Index, Aegis Hyposurface, Dimension Elevator, Super Cilia Skin, Lumalive, and Cubix. Reading the descriptions and looking at the images, you might think these high-tech, odd, or flat-out mysterious items came from the pages of a science-fiction novel or an episode of Battlestar Galactica. But they are very real.

Yet Brownell, although enthusiastic about advances in manufacturing and application, prefers not to see technology as an end in itself. “I think we must maintain a critical distance,” he says. “Technology can bring us amazing things, but we should always be vigilant about where it is taking us. Marshall McLuhan said that the artist is essential to society because he/she can foresee the changes technological development will bring about.”

And by informing other architects about the progress that researchers, manufacturers, and designers are making—whether it's a bleeding-edge use of computer-aided design or a new application of an existing material or product—Brownell hopes they will begin to think this way too.

Applied Knowledge

Alley24, Seattle

Located in the South Lake Union neighborhood, Alley24 is a 381,000-square-foot project designed by NBBJ. The two-building, city block–sized development is among Seattle's first mixed-use projects to be built under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

Brownell and Andrew McCune led the team that designed the housing/retail building's façade. In the process of researching cladding materials, McCune suggested Richlite, a resin-impregnated, paper-based material frequently used for interior applications. The beauty of Richlite, says Brownell, is that it requires no labor-intensive finishing, is highly durable, and can be cut to precise dimensions at the factory. Also, it comes from Forest Stewardship Council–certified sources and contains low volatile organic compounds.

After testing by NBBJ to ensure LEED compliance and local building code conformity, Richlite was specced for the 180-unit building. It is the first time the product has been used on such a scale.

University Center Office Building, Seattle

The University Center Office Building is a 50,000-square-foot structure that would be built atop an existing parking garage. The land, which has been in one family's possession for decades, was previously home to Chevrolet and Mazda dealerships.

NBBJ's proposal is an attempt, says Brownell, who leads the design team, “to connect the history of the site … with the design character and materiality of the building.” How would this be accomplished? The façade, with its multiple glass types, colored metal panels, and LED light sources at the garage level, would be an abstract representation of the automobile in the urban setting, suggesting energy and movement. On a more literal level, Brownell says he is “passionate” that NBBJ make use of reused/recycled car materials in the building's construction, “particularly in the metal façade panels, glazing, screen elements, and even flooring (recycled tires, plastics).”

Still on the boards, the project has received enthusiastic support from both the client and the University District community.