As you run your fingers over the surface of a rusted-out column, multivalent realities manifest themselves: first, the blobby amoeboid bloom of oxidization on the metal, speaking of an uneven sealing coat applied to the column, with rust forming first where paint was thin or the iron content of the steel below most assertive of its chemical realities. Next, the friable grittiness of the rough-finished surface, result of the flight of electrons from iron to oxygen, degrading iron to oxides and/or hydroxides which powder, flake and fail. You look up and notice rust around the bolts which, via inturned angles, connect the column web to the beam flange above; you reverse construct the joint, wonder at the organizational dynamics which created this detail — perhaps a welded joint would have necessitated an additional union contract, or the designer knew best the mode of light gauge steel framing and merely didn’t consider welding.
The world of materials is one rife with complex interactions and repeating rituals which give rise to the phenomena humans interact with on a daily basis. Volatility at all levels of engagement must be diffused or absorbed in flexible solution on the level of the mechanical connection. The formative complexities of the architectural field can often be typified by the material interactions an architecture engages; to explore the expression of these material machinations in the formal, representational, and organizational morphologies of the designed object is my thesis intent.
