Business Publications

Material evidenceRob Gregory reviews recent innovations

Architectural Review, The, August, 2004

501 CORIAN

As recently demonstrated by designer Dody Nash in an installation in London's Royal Festival Hall. Corian continues to offer designers freedom to innovate with new forms. Listening Shells (above) were a series of audio sculptures installed to accompany a festival celebrating Luciano Berio, a leading contemporary Italian composer. Made from DuPont[TM] Corian[R] visitors were able to sit within the shells and listen to live processed sounds transmitted through the stems into a spherical seat. Listening shells will be featured in this autumn's 100% Design exhibition. Corian has also been used by Ron Arad, in the latest incarnation of his well-known Oh-Void (left). Previously in carbon fibre, this new series of Oh-Void chairs has been made in DuPont[TM] Corian[R] by cutting 'slices' of Corian[R] to precise dimensions using a CNC machine, and then joining them using a contrasting colour Corian[R] adhesive to create a distinctive pinstripe effect

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502 NEG

Veluna is a new luminescent glass, suitable for use on wall or counter-top surfaces. The glow in the dark material, which is supplied in blocks or boards, absorbs light like a sponge, to create dramatic effects in the dark, radiating blue/green light for more than an hour from a twenty-minute charge-up period.

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503 OKALUX

LiTraCon[c], the invention of young Hungarian architect Aron Losonczi, is a combination of optical fibres and fine concrete. From early experiments embedding glass shards in concrete, the product has been refined to comprise thousands of fibres running side by side which transmit light (and colour) between the blocks' two faces. Comprising only 5 per cent of each block's composition, it is claimed that LiTraCon[c] blocks will have similar performance rating as solid concrete blocks, while processing this ghostly, magical quality. While this new composite material--which in theory could transmit light through walls up to 20 metres deep--is still being developed in collaboration with the Technical University, Budapest, the industrial production of precast blocks has began. The development team consider this to be the birth of what they call intelligent concrete.

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504 OKACOLOR

Okacolor is an innovative coating technique that enables the application of any number of colours onto a single pane of glass. Not only offering the means to achieving differential gradations of colour and opacity, the process can also achieve true colour reproduction of photographs and complex graphics. When used with insulated glass panels, the coating is applied to the outer surface of the inner skin.

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505 GKD

Crystal Weave is an innovative product by GKD that combines stainless-steel wire mesh with cut crystals. When incorporated into interior screens with integrated lighting, the character of a room becomes one of constant change, as the effects of diffraction and diffusion continuously play on the surfaces of walls and ceilings.

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