MIX, MIX, MAX, MIN by Sheila Kennedy of KVA Matx

MIX, MIX, MAX, MIN

This lecture by Sheila Kennedy, FAIA presents the recent work of KVA Matx, an interdisciplinary design practice that is recognized for research on material culture, innovation in architecture and the design of soft, resilient forms of infrastructure.  Building materials are not only scarce resources, they are also unstable. Their properties transform over time from one condition to another, putting material categories into question. Unlike the modernist aesthetic that celebrated technology, the present moment is distinguished by the elusive, dormant condition of infrastructure that sleeps within materials.

In this talk, Kennedy will present her recent built work at KVA Matx and reflect on unfamiliar, sleeping forms of material beauty that may, perhaps, need only a kiss to be awakened. Kennedy will discuss projects that engage natural flax, sheep’s wool, baling wire, phase change materials, hard wood thinnings, cross laminated timber, textiles, gravity, nano-particles and trees.  These projects demonstrate design strategies that transform the conventions of material culture in architecture and offer alternatives to high-energy construction and manufacturing practices. These strategies include the mixing of digital and traditional fabrication techniques and modes of project delivery, new partnerships with living plants and the hybridization of ancient and contemporary materials. Through the minimization of materiality in architecture and the maximization of material and spatial effects, the lecture is intended to encourage architects to question material ‘givens’ and create new aesthetics and forms of environmental agency that are practicable, impactful and scalable.

Monday, Feb 14, 4:45pm

Eugene, Lawrence 115 & Zoom