The companion volume to Blaine Brownell's book Transmaterial, released in February, includes more than 200 new materials, most of which he gathered as part of his "product of the week" e-mails. Subscribe at transmaterial.net.
Princeton Architectural Press The companion volume to Blaine Brownell's book Transmaterial, released in February, includes more than 200 new materials, most of which he gathered as part of his "product of the week" e-mails. Subscribe at transmaterial.net.

Blaine Brownell has kept busy since appearing on the November/December 2006 cover of ARCHITECT, as “The Materials Man.” He's writing a book about his discoveries in Japan as a Fulbright research fellow. He's become a visiting architecture professor at the University of Michigan, where he just installed a wall constructed from plastic water bottles. And he's produced a sequel to Transmaterial, his popular catalog of innovative architectural products and materials.

It seems like every product manufacturer has caught the green wave, developing new materials or remaking old ones in a sustainable way. For Transmaterial 2, Brownell sought out the best of this crop. Several items in the new book came to his attention during his time in East Asia, but his research uncovered materials from around the globe. “The impetus for this book was to have a range of materials from various countries and cultures,” he says.

Entries in the book are organized by a product's materiality, in straightforward categories such as concrete, wood, glass, plastic, light, and digital. Brownell classifies each entry according to trends he has identified in the world of eco-technology, such as ultraperforming, intelligent, and repurposed. “Virgin resources are rapidly dwindling,” Brownell says, “so there's a big push to rethink materials. It's about conflating a number of trends together for a more proactive approach to environmental responsibility.”

Although passionate about every material in the book, Brownell shared a few favorites with ARCHITECT.

Kenaf-reinforced bioplastic, page 103 nec.com Developed by the NEC Corp. in Japan, this new composite material boasts a 90-percent biomass content made from the kenaf plant. Brownell says the plant has several advantages as a biomass material: "Kenaf provides more rigidity to plastic so it can be used for things like cell phone or laptop casings, and they are working on car parts." Other biomass plants, like corn, are controversial because of the embodied energy they require for growing, harvesting, and manufacturing, and arguments are being made against consuming a food source for other purposes. "Kenaf is an incredibly fast-growing plant that absorbs incredible amounts of CO2 from the air," says Brownell, "which means growing it is as beneficial as the product made from it."
NEC Corporation Kenaf-reinforced bioplastic, page 103 nec.com Developed by the NEC Corp. in Japan, this new composite material boasts a 90-percent biomass content made from the kenaf plant. Brownell says the plant has several advantages as a biomass material: "Kenaf provides more rigidity to plastic so it can be used for things like cell phone or laptop casings, and they are working on car parts." Other biomass plants, like corn, are controversial because of the embodied energy they require for growing, harvesting, and manufacturing, and arguments are being made against consuming a food source for other purposes. "Kenaf is an incredibly fast-growing plant that absorbs incredible amounts of CO2 from the air," says Brownell, "which means growing it is as beneficial as the product made from it."
Air pollution-absorbing highway barrier system, page 25 field-office.com The Superabsorber from South Carolina-based fieldoffice is a prettier and healthier alternative to the miles of concrete barrier walls typically installed along U.S. highways. Superabsorber walls mitigate the negative eff ects that highways have on their immediate environments by absorbing sound, light, and even air pollutants. What excites Brownell is how this material could make our built environment part of the solution to clean up our natural one. "We're rethinking our basic ideas of architecture in terms of its role for the inhabitants and society and our environment," he says. "There's a significant line of thinking about nature not as this separate pure environment, but as a growing system. We can consciously intervene in more positive ways."
Fieldoffice Air pollution-absorbing highway barrier system, page 25 field-office.com The Superabsorber from South Carolina-based fieldoffice is a prettier and healthier alternative to the miles of concrete barrier walls typically installed along U.S. highways. Superabsorber walls mitigate the negative eff ects that highways have on their immediate environments by absorbing sound, light, and even air pollutants. What excites Brownell is how this material could make our built environment part of the solution to clean up our natural one. "We're rethinking our basic ideas of architecture in terms of its role for the inhabitants and society and our environment," he says. "There's a significant line of thinking about nature not as this separate pure environment, but as a growing system. We can consciously intervene in more positive ways."