Existence of materiality & immateriality

The role of materiality in today's architecture used to be in relationship between the site and the surrounding district which the material that had be chosen for the construction is natural and consists its durability that able to express their age and history. While incorporating with the site context, it also brings in the immateriality such as the senses of human including visual, sounds, smells. This shows that architecture do have a link between materiality and immateriality. As we now have internet and we able to get those visual image through internet easily but it is just a shade, a color but no materiality that is why the architecture is here to allow people to touch and experience the space. Besides that, a famous japanese architect, Kengo Kuma, where he emphasize on the used of traditional skills and natural materials implemented in his project which he always relies on his sense of touch that the texture and the primitive function of the natural material is able to collaborate with the right construction by choosing the right material. On the other hand, the role of immateriality in today's architecture do gives a sense of secure and safety feelings to the occupants where architecture is expected to be physically, phsycologically solid and stable which determined by the person's visual perception. As technology development rapidly, architects used to pursue a creation of immateriality architecutre that carried out a phenomenon of invisibility to blend in with the surrounding as to remove the contrast between the architecture and the surrounding site, in which stated that “ Immaterial refers to the perceived absence of material by the inhabitant ” mentioned by Hill. This can be achieved when the divide between building and nature flows from one to other and they are integrated to form and influence the space which had be done by Kengo Kuma in his project of Asakusa Culture Tourists Information Centre in Japan.

In my opinion, partially, materiality and immateriality is predominantly about human perceptions where people actually observe the building and experience the space that the material itself may provides a privacy and satisfied feelings unconsciously in relate to the expression of material properties because materials do have its own texture and functions. People will determine the material by sense of visual or touching, materials that created a space will provide a sense of relationship between user experience and the surrounding of interior as well as exterior. For example, the lighting fixture that is applied to the building itself may create a sense for the people to measured the proportions of the building through eyes due to the translucent material that allow artificial lighting or natural lighting to penetrate to the interior and the exterior as well. Futhermore, material also has its own properties that can be expressed through their way of construction method and the proper placement of the material to be applied appropriately in order to brings out its functionality, therefore the sense that create from the material itself is able to receive from the observer or experience by the occupants with their senses of human. Lastly, I would like to conclude that materiality and immateriality can be observed or sense as an existence or non-existence which can be interpreted that most importantly both are related because the immateriality comes with the thought and designed ideas that gradually influences the outcome to be physically done or virtually revealed where always surrounded by the materiality.