Rethinking matter as a tool for aesthetic and ethical innovation. In contemporary architecture, materiality transcends its constructive and aesthetic role to become a key tool for innovation, sustainability, and sensory quality. This workshop proposes a space for active exploration, reviewing materiality in evolution and how materials—depending on their origin, treatment, or technological combination—can acquire highly diverse functional and expressive properties. Through examples such as modified woods, hybrid corks, or translucent concretes, we will explore the multiple identities a single material can assume in response to demands for efficiency, circularity, or environmental impact. The workshop will provide resources to understand the life cycle of materials and foster informed, critical, and creative decision-making in the design process, approaching matter as an active component of design—capable of generating more sustainable, adaptable, and emotionally expressive spaces.
