TEXTILES

ARCOM is the commercial textile showroom that we visited at the Washington Design Center.  These textiles are used in hospitals, schools and office buildings because of inherent qualities to prevent flames, are easier to clean and also can be moisture resistant.  A designer I worked for several years ago used mostly "commercial" textiles, she was a good for me to learn from.  She definately widened my knowledge of how textiles can be used in different venues, especially with children and pets.

TILE/CERAMICS

Marble is combined with brick.

These floor materials from the National Building Museum is a combination of marbel and terracotta tiles.  The design dates back to post Civil War, approaching Victorian times.  This floor could have been from many places in Europe, especially Italy.

TEXTILES

This is the tight loop carpeting that covers the floor of the National Building Museum.  It is custom designed and uses shapes within the boarder lines to define space, as well as to provide comfort to visitors.

WOOD

Frank Lloyd Wright was well known for his wooden buildings and custom designed furniture for that structure.  The Patterson article appeared ambivalent as it's not clear from some of the text whether it's critical or not, it was confusing.  However, the article was well illustrated with photos of building types and line drawings of design details.  FLW clearly had a fine grasp of the versitility of wood as a building material.

STONE + BRICK

This is the side of a dorm building on GW's campus that shows two types of stone and a very old brick.  The type on the left side looks like sand stone and the material in the middle is different type of stone.

STONE + BRICK

Stone road between the East and West Buildings of the
National Gallery of Art.

Sample of the pink marble which is the main material of which the building is made.

A wider view of the marble, shown in the stair case, beginning to show
wear, or patina of age.

A wider view of the stone walk - way/road between the buildings.

STONE + BRICK

This is an example of SLATE used in a kitchen, mine.  Slate is VERY hard to stand on so I have a rubber mat for cushioning in front of the sink, covered by a rug.  The grout used to be a light grey and is difficult to clean.  This slate was originally sealed with several layers of a material I can't remember the name of (notice the time) oh, polyurethane, which became cracked and chipped.  It cost a fortune to have removed.  Despite the ground being an inconsistant color, the bare slate is attractive.

TEXTILES

These are COLOR and grain samples of leather.  The larger samples are actually stamped patterns.  The smaller samples that look like real hide are stamp patterned and died.

TEXTILES

Our field trip to the Washington Design Center was a textiles extravaganza!

Leather is referred to a textile and these are photos from the Edelman showroom.  They are examples of the different grades of leather an COLORS.

TEXTILES

Sign made of felt for the Modernism show at the National Gallery of Art.

I was lucky to see that this sign was sewn with felt (there are advantages to being tall AND observant), a most unlikely material!  I have a few more, but can't find them right now.

WOOD

Wood as a building material has unlimited uses.  It can be used for floors, walls and a roof, in addition to furniture and cabinetry.  I have many examples of wood to add.  The two below are from the National Gallery of Art.

Entry door of Admin. offices and the Study Center, aka Library.

Reference Librarian Desk with work table behind.

These are wooden pieces of furniture NOT laminate.  Veneer most likely but wood none the less.

GLASS

I have other examples of stained GLASS but may not have time to load them as they are from my visit to Chicago and Detroit during Thanksgiving.  Due to the time crunch of getting this assignment barely completed I'll work with the photos of GLASS I now have organized.

For example:

Roof of the East Building.

Another view of the roof.

View of the Fountain from the Arcade below ground.

View from below ground of water cascading down from above.

View from ground level of fountain and glass light emitting tetrahedron.

GLASS

Ane example of stained glass is in the National Gallery of Art.  As the reading "New Glass Architecture" explained, glass with color added was used for religious purposes.

Photographing these images was difficult.  In the gallery they are lit from behind but the camera flash competed with the back lighting making it difficult to see the images clearly.

GLASS

The NEWSEUM on Pennsylvania Avenue is a fine example of glass as a building material.  The east side of the building emphasises the zigzag of the inner stair case and uses the architectural shape as decoration.
The left side of the building, the west,  is a contrasting series of glass shapes.  The building behind are apartments and part of the complex.

GLASS

Glass as a building material can be used to "contain" a space, as well as be transparent.  Glass can be a skin and also be used as a type of decoration.  What is on the other side of the glass can complement the exterior.

Here are two different examples of glass as a building material.  The exterior door is glass with BRASS fixtures.  Inside the lobby thick glass block is used as a defining wall for the Optomotrist.

METAL

This is an etched metal sign inside the Lobby.

And, polished brass surrounds the list of occupants with a GLASS cover, NOT plastic that would be a less costly material used today.

METAL

The same Rockville office building has other examples of METAL.

This looks like an "angel hair" finish discussed in class and defined in the reading.

PLASTIC LAMINATES

Another example of plastic laminate:

This is a beautiful elevator interior of an office building in Rockville.  I have other beautiful images of this building because these materials are luxurious compared to ones built today.  The decorative metal strips look like thin strips of brass, not plastic.

PLASTIC LAMINATES

The article PLASTIC discusses the material as alchemy in that it can imitate nature and used to produce a multitude of products.  A brand name such as Tupperware, I can remember as a child my mother being so excited after going to a party that sold the product.  She bought a wide variety of shapes and sized to help her with feeding a family with 5 kids.  She was estatic that it could be put in the freezer and still maintain its integrity.  It didn't in the dishwasher, we had one of those firsts too, because it could melt!
Plastic furniture, office products, building materials are also discussed with a variety of examples.  Every shape and color can be formed with plastic.
Plastic laminates such as FORMICA are also used as building materials that have a surface that imitates nature, like wood.  It's strong, durable and requires little maintenance.  Here are a few examples of LAMINATE used in offices: