A

AIA CES Credits
AV Office
Abstract Publication
Academic Affairs
Academic Calendar, Columbia University
Academic Calendar, GSAPP
Admissions Office
Advanced Standing Waiver Form
Alumni Board
Alumni Office
Anti-Racism Curriculum Development Award
Architecture Studio Lottery
Assistantships
Avery Library
Avery Review
Avery Shorts

S

STEM Designation
Satisfactory Academic Progress
Scholarships
Skill Trails
Student Affairs
Student Awards
Student Conduct
Student Council (All Programs)
Student Financial Services
Student Health Services at Columbia
Student Organization Handbook
Student Organizations
Student Services Center
Student Services Online (SSOL)
Student Work Online
Studio Culture Policy
Studio Procedures
Summer Workshops
Support GSAPP
Close
This website uses cookies as well as similar tools and technologies to understand visitors' experiences. By continuing to use this website, you consent to Columbia University's usage of cookies and similar technologies, in accordance with the Columbia University Website Cookie Notice Group 6

The Library

Material libraries are a resource for designers to gain technical knowledge. Some are public, like the Parson’s Material Lab. Some are highly curated and lucrative, like the private library of an architecture firm. They help designers understand sustainability, durability, finish, lead time and, most importantly, cost.

But our personal knowledge of materials is not defined by material libraries or the spec sheets that fill them. Understanding comes from touch, sound, taste, smell. Understanding comes from trauma, ecstasy, your earliest memories. You have a meaningful connection to a material when it provokes an important experience.

Our practice references the work of Wallmakers, Jacolby Satterwhite, Miriam Abraham. It is an anonymous conversation, connecting the variety of our interior lives through physical material. Pick up a material. Smell it. Feel it. Smash it. Taste it. Write down the first personal memory that comes to mind. You can draw, dance, sing in response. If you’d like to submit a memory in writing, just click “What do you remember?” on the website.