The Use of Graphene in Building Construction Potentiality and Questions

As this is exploratory research, material experimentation represents the driving key for prototyping an innovative graphene-based material, thanks to the design. The application of graphene also means an experimental input for industrial, scientific advancement in the orbit of the PhD executive (industrial doctorate). Currently, the tools and methodology are being defined through which it will be possible to introduce architectural design as a driver of experimental material research. In other words, the development of a graphene-based material and raw earth as a building material will be the empirical-industrial “pretext” on which to leverage to put design-driven research into play. Design and prototyping will be the epicenter of the experimental constellation.

No less important, this research also faces an experimental stage in the laboratory, and it will be this phase that will give added value to the research topic. In this sense, design-driven research acquires meaning, operating at the limit between theoretical and practical, trying to draw a border that is as blurred as possible. The experimentation with a graphene application in architecture will also allow me to gain direct experience between the reflective moment and the practical moment and undertake a multidisciplinary path. Interdisciplinarity, in my case between architecture, chemistry and materials engineering, can represent the appropriate aspect to offering a rich and varied contribution to the academic community.

I consider the design-driven approach a hybrid activity that combines the reflective part of research with the practical act of drawing and representation, generating a multifaceted configuration. This configuration can be challenging, but both components will probably enrich the result in an original way. Different models of knowledge production can coexist in the same process, said Prof. Johan Van Den Berghe, so the design-driven strategy has the potential to elevate research to a higher level of awareness.