Architecture of Plastics
Plastics are one of the most recent materials, first formulated in the nineteenth century by chemically treating rubber with sulphur. The first man-made synthetic material was Bakelite, later discovered in 1907 by chemist Leo Bakeland. This became an electrically resistant, chemically stable, impervious to cracking, heat resistant and shatterproof product.
During the 1920’s petroleum and natural gas refinement increased with uses for insulation, moulded parts and water resistant products. Polythene, Nylon, Polyester and Fiberglass were later created providing new technological advances for items in the product, fashion and construction industries.
Plastic is the generic term for, most commonly, polyethylene, polyurethane, polystyrene, polycarbonate, polyvinyl and polypropylene. They share the ability to achieve different levels of transparency and colour which can be cut, formed or bent into almost any shape. Due to its versatility we see plastics in almost every aspect of our daily life, most commonly in construction used for fixtures, fittings, surface treatments and insulation amongst many more.
Modifiers can be added to the base plastic products to produce optimum properties required. These included plasticizers, stabilizers, fillers, extenders, reinforcing fibres and flame retarders. Casting, extruding and injection moulding can be used to form intricate designs that have the advantage of having a strong low weight to high strength ratio.
At Inclume we aim to reduce the amount of new plastics and support a more sustainable built future. We are supportive of the reuse of existing materials and try to utilise the amount of waste products, generally, throughout our portfolio of work. More and more intuitive companies are committed to producing new products that recycle plastics into new usable components which we proactively try to specify and support.
We use recycled plastics in our installations which can often provide a magical quality of diffused and dappled light. Colour spectrums and textured patterns provide tactile surfaces.
