Material Driven Architecture A Framework for Exploring the Role of Material Experiences for Integration of Soil in a Sustainable Material Culture

Abstract

Architectural research tends to focus on technological innovations and numerical data to prove the sustainability of a material. At the same time, this is not necessarily sufficient for the material to be accepted and incorporated into practice. How a material is perceived sensory will also affect the degree of utilization and not least how the material is treated. It does not help much that a material has good conditions for sustainable building, if sensory experiences from the material produce negative feelings, associations, and meanings and prevent architects to use it - or that consumers choose not to take care of it and in the worst case, throw it away because it gives them negative experiences. How can designing for experiences contribute to a development towards a sustainable material culture?

Keywords: Materials Experiences; Earth Architecture; Practice-based Design