Mixed Matters

Contemporary Materialities.
An Interview with Francis Bitonti
What are economic, social and political implications of the use
of multi-materials in architecture and construction?
The costs will not always be an issue. It is only expensive because of the
current economy surrounding the intellectual properties enabling this kind of
work. The cost of these technologies will gradually drop in price when we
have multiple producers and manufactures of both materials and machines.
Technological trends are pointing us towards a future where these kinds
of fabrication technologies are going to be very accessible. This is going to
have a very serious impact on construction processes, and will most certainly
disrupt supply chains and the relationship between the contractor and
the architect and the contractor and many vendors and sub-contractors that
work on a project.
What can be the new criteria against which to evaluate the
resulting motley constructs?
We are going to evaluate these kinds of constructs the way we always have.
I think the standards will be higher for building performance because we will
be able to engineer materials in a much different way.
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