The Exploration Of Dominate/Hidden Value Within Materials In Spatial Design

The living environment is filled with various elements of materials. The embodiment of different materials constituted the different environment of space. During the environmental design process, material is not only a media for communication between people and the environment, but also carrying value because of its unique qualities. Value of materials is an important factor of enhancing the space’s quality. For instance, observing human figure from the medical and artistic perspective(sculptures, for example) could result in obtaining different information, the material selection can also be different based on its different features. From the dominant point of view, the functional properties of materials are more valuable, hence, the primarily focus is on the physical properties of materials. However, for choosing materials for the implication meanings, it is more about whether the material can provide improvement of implicit atmosphere and spatial quality effect. Based on related researches and theoretical analysis, this article redefines the decoration materials. It has been divided couple categories: developed in the process of design, the artificial processing materials specially applied for the environmental decorations, which I called the dominant materials; and those serving in the environment space decorative elements, such as ornamental objects, the implicit material. Through related case studies, practical visits and questionnaires plus other methods, this article proposes an exploration and research on the dominant value and implicit value in the environmental design elements- materials. The major direction of exploration for this paper is to understand the hidden value of materials; the secondary one is discovering the dominant value that within materials. These two studies applied respective approaches in order to achieve the mutual conversions between dominate materials and implicit materials meanwhile to enhance the material’s explicit and implicit value. I used this design approach to guide my practice. The design strategy contains two parts: The first part is used in the contemporary environment of conceptual space’s hidden material design. The eco-environmental protection and its emotional impact into space are the theme of this part. In other word, demonstrate the value of hidden materials by convey information through hidden materials; second part has studied the relation between people and materials, created an emotional connection in between. After my analyze of dominant value and the intangible values in space design elements. The author selected two familiar friends A and B as two different characters to corresponding to similar material properties. Moreover, personalized designed private spaces for them in order to explore the emotional interaction between people and materials in space. In contemporary environmental design, finding material properties, then explore the material elements to create a relationship with the user in the environment, while expanding the obvious value of materials could be curcial. However, display the hidden value of materials while expanding design method to increase the spatial experience is another focusing point of this paper.