Matter Timed

At best, the ageing of materials is regarded as lending a patina to historic buildings. In reality, however, materials often age disgracefully and unevenly, requiring a high level of maintenance and refurbishment. What if materials could be engineered and integrated into buildings not only to enhance but to heal? Martina Decker, Assistant Professor in the College of Architecture and Design at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), looks at pioneering research that is being undertaken into performative, time‐dependent materials.