Innovative building materials אדריכלות ישראלית Architecture of Israel #131 November 2022 | | 80 Innovative building materials are designed to improve conventional ones' effectiveness, durability and environmental compatibility - materials that have stood the test of time, some of which for hundreds or even thousands of years, such as stone, timber, and especially concrete - each with its structural merits, each with its own vulnerabilities. Ironically, one of the factors that prevents the use of modern materials is anachronistic construction codes, and especially Overall Municipal Spatial Guidelines that are "utilized" by local authorities to deliberatelymake permit procedure impossible, causing unnecessary waste of thousands of working hours, including unnecessary and non-professional "Checkers" in the licensing departments. place of the season new building materials in an anachronistic reality Dr. Ami Ran In recent years there has been significant progress in the production of composite materials - those made from several sub-materials, each contributing its unique properties to strengthen the building, allowing its ability to adapt to the environment and its structural weight (specific gravity) - which greatly influence the mass of the construction, as well as the relative relationship between interior and exterior. The combination of different materials to achieve synergetic output in relation to straw-reinforced mud used as a component that opposes stretching, as well as promotes insulation is not new, of course, being mentioned already in the Bible. Such was invented (or rather re-invented) in 1868 by French gardener, Joseph Monier who used reinforced concrete to build planters capable of dealing with growing roots and earth movements. In the mid-nineteenth century, a cocktail of concrete and iron rods was used to create a composite material resisting pressure, yet flexible, which resists stretching; an invention that is actually regarded as the most significant change in the history of architecture. This synergistic connection has created a situation in which, towards the end of the 19th century, reinforced concrete had become the most common construction material, as it completely made traditional stone arches unnecessary, thus creating a new building style, its most extreme expression being the 1960's Brutalist Style. Though, reinforced concrete has an Achilles Heel – corrosion due to moisture and particularly, salinity, it continues to function as a major building material. Because of this, iron reinforcement rods have been gradually replaced by nonmetallic materials, such as glass fibers, carbon or polymers, which, in turn manage to improve other dimensions of the new composite materials as well. Notable in this area are GRC products (glass-fiber reinforced concrete) which have been used over the last three decades to produce cheap substitutes for complex architectural details, using casting templates (Computer Numerical Control Templates (CNC). Another widespread concrete-based use is carbon (or recycled wood-waste) reinforced concrete, which gives the material better insulation properties as well as lighter weight, thus reducing the construction costs relative to heavy, conventional concrete. On this basis, polymer-based concretes are developed in various parts of the world to self-heal cracks created in concrete as a result of water dehydration; the cracks are automatically filled by the polymers’ expansion as a result of heat, or bacteria, which multiply in moist environments. Another method of creating self-healing concrete uses nano-based technology, which enables physicochemical changes in the material properties, bringing about a considerable improvement in its durability while increasing its thermal resistance and allowing significant weight reduction. One of the most interesting developments in this area is transparent aluminum, which preserves its strength and low -segmental weight. Due to its being a strong metallic material with glass-like qualities, its use may greatly reduce the weight of the building, improve the safety component, greatly simplify the construction process and largely expand its unique visual effect. Similar to glass production, by which sand (two-carbon silicone) and the addition of two-carbon sodium (soda) is heated to 1000 Celsius, aluminum powder is heated to extreme temperatures to become transparent. Thanks to the durability of aluminum relative to glass, transparent aluminum has been in used in reinforced buildings, and there is no doubt that after passing the test of time, thanks to its unique architectural features it will become an attractive building material. Interestingly, like other futuristic products, transparent aluminum was forecasted in a science fiction movie - Star Target, in which, in the scene from "The Journey Home", Scott transmits a text message dictating the formula for transparent aluminum production. The emotional stripping that characterizes communication on social media promotes, in turn, physical transparency, often expressed in increased use of screen walls, which radiate out in the buildings interiors, as well as transparent partitions in bathrooms and closets, where the contents can often be an important design component.
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