Weathering; Patina, and other means. Revealing material’s external climate adaptation processes

Materials used in building facade assembly are materials that have been man-processed into specific elements. All materials start as crude material, raw and sourced from our earth. A process of production demands crude material to change state - in wood for example - it is felled. Chopped down, killed and reprocessed under specific controlled processes. We assume control of all building materials through rigorous quality control specifications and regulations to ensure materials perform under specific constraints. Yet facade materials confront an external environment that is not controlled, and are susceptible to heat, to rain, to snow, to wind, to UV. All live forces undetermined, and of which materials naturally act and react through weathering, patination, discolouring promoting natural chemical reactions such as rusting.
The purpose of the paper is to present recent research that explores the after-life of specific material types and how understanding of materials' natural processes of transformation when exposed to the external climate can inform initial design decisions.
The research follows iterative prototyping processes where knowledge has been accumulated via explorations of specific material performances, from laboratory to construction mock-ups focusing on the architectural qualities embedded in control of production techniques, and facilitating longer term patinas of material surfaces to extend the aesthetic beyond common judgements. Experiments are therefore focused on how the inherent material qualities drive a design brief towards specific investigations to explore aesthetics induced through production and patinas obtained over time while exposed to external climate conditions.