Neo-MDF:Material Data Form

Anthropologist Tim Ingold offers a description of material in three parts – medium, substance and surface.1 Using this framework, computer scientist and anthropologist Paul Dourish unpacks one way in which data can be consideredmaterial: if data is the substance and software is the medium, then the surface is the software’s representation of this information.2 In other words, we perceive the representation of data as a surface.3 However, being a virtual entity, the material data must manifest physically as part of the surface of a physical material (as light, print, toolpath, etc.), thus becoming embedded within the qualities of that material. From truss to trim, modern surfaces depend on data and the management of said data, can motivate the appearance of architecture in new and unexpected ways.4 This project posits that contemporary materials are not a single entity, rather a combination of physical and virtual qualities that manifest as a hybrid-material. These hybrid-materials are palpable, driving a phenomenological experience ultimately derived from their digital underpinnings.

https://doi.org/10.35483/ACSA.AM.107.22

Volume Editors
Amy Kulper, Grace La & Jeremy Ficca

ISBN
978-1-944214-21-0