Pantheon of Wonder

Essay

Abstraction of Colorful Light

Nanomaterials Bring New Sensations to Add to Your Design Palette

by Maria Lorena Lehman

Nanotechnology

Architecture Drawing

What if you could bring entirely new sensations within the spaces that you build, to better meet the needs of both your client and building occupants? Just imagine a museum with white light that seems whiter than white that also seems to be emitting from nowhere. Or, what about hearing changes in temperature?

Well, both of these examples are becoming a reality due to progress involving nanomaterials. (You can read about how the two previous examples work in the article published here.)

New design possibilities are expanding and there will be new ways to add to the integrity of your architectural masterpieces. It seems only fitting that we, as architects, use such nanomaterials to enhance not only the function of our buildings, but to make them even more uniquely beautiful for the 21st century.

Will Unexpected Architectural Sensations Be A Good Thing?

By mixing up what your occupants expect or rely upon building materials and assemblies to do, your architecture will gain an entire new array of functions and behaviors with which to uplift the way your occupants live, work and play. Often, architectural spaces today feel so static as occupants struggle daily to adapt themselves to a building. Shouldn’t it also be the other way around?

The flexibility and new behaviors that nanomaterials bring will add new variety and more choices which you, as an architect, must contend with. The key is to know how to use them — to be able to create state-of-the-art spaces that go beyond mere occupant distraction and annoying agitation to really elevate human lifestyle in a humane manner.

I challenge you to design for a symbiotic relationship between your architecture and your occupants. I think if you, as an architect, can get this relationship right while integrating new technologies and materials with the traditional qualities you hold dear, there will open up a plethora of new options for you to find those functional, beautiful and meaningful architectural moments.

Image Caption: Nanoparticles with different thicknesses and light effects.

Image Credit: © Argonne National Laboratory | Flickr

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Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my focus to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer, recording artist, and spatial symphonist — where I advance architectural design through music, and innovate music through an architectural design lens.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical-design journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album/book releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical and architectural authorial works.


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Let’s enjoy the beauty, inspiration, and hope that music brings.


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Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER® | Orchestral Notes

Your invitation:


Dear reader,


I believe life is a continual process of awakening. As the journey of my own life continues, I always find myself connecting my experiences, studies, and ideas to new creative projects that bring beauty, inspiration, and hope for our world. For over 30 years, since starting at age 17, I have immersed myself in architectural design; and early on, I earned a Master of Design with Distinction from Harvard University, setting the foundation for decades of deep immersion in the field. Yet even before this, I held music close to my heart. At the age of 5, I began my first piano lessons; and since then, I began to see the world through a musical lens — even while designing architecture.


Over the decades, I grew closer and closer to music with a deep love for the design of instruments, their unique timbres, and for all the immersive ways their sounds could be interwoven into beautiful orchestrated compositions. I even began to develop a musical composition methodology, Spatial Symphonics, as I found my architectural design work becoming more and more emotive, soul-stirring, and yes: musical.


In recent years, I finally turned my focus to music composition. I hold a Graduate Diploma from the Film Scoring Academy of Europe where my works have been recorded by the acclaimed European Recording Orchestra (ERO), and I am founder of MLL ATELIER® — an award-winning studio now dedicated to my work as an orchestral composer, recording artist, and spatial symphonist — where I advance architectural design through music, and innovate music through an architectural design lens.


It is my hope that I can share my ongoing musical-design journey with you, directly from my studio through my video-newsletter entitled 'Orchestral Notes'. Expect video updates filled with first-access studio news announcing: album/book releases, concert premiers, sheet music publications, creative process sneak-peeks, and my own compositional philosophies as they develop to fuel my ongoing body of musical and architectural authorial works.


I would love for you to join me for this exciting adventure.


Simply click the button below to join my Orchestral Notes video-newsletter delivered every two weeks directly to your email inbox. Plus, get access to the full publication archives.

JOIN ORCHESTRAL NOTES

Limited availability each month.


Warmly,

Maria Lorena Lehman


Founder of MLL ATELIER

Author of PANTHEON OF WONDER

Maria Lorena Lehman has received the following awards and has been seen in the following publications: