“High-tech” means [better] performance over other materials. When performance is the first criteria, you’re inevitably going to end up with a high-tech material. Any material can be high-tech. For example, look at the development of plastic packaging for two-liter Coke bottles. There’s only 50 grams of plastic used in those bottles. They’re able to contain that much heavy liquid in that little plastic; it’s less weight, less waste, less packaging overall. That to me is high-tech.

“High-tech” means [better] performance over other materials. When performance is the first criteria, you’re inevitably going to end up with a high-tech material. Any material can be high-tech. For example, look at the development of plastic packaging for two-liter Coke bottles. There’s only 50 grams of plastic used in those bottles. They’re able to contain that much heavy liquid in that little plastic; it’s less weight, less waste, less packaging overall. That to me is high-tech.

Which industries are at the forefront of new material development?

Aerospace is a great industry to look to; they do a lot of development work. But it’s rare that we will find an aerospace material that’s directly applicable and affordable for an architect or designer. We’re aware of the new high-strength aluminum alloys and the superhydrophilic coatings, but because they’re developed through aerospace, there’s less of a concern about cost and more of a concern about performance.

It's a common conception that high-tech materials cost more. It sounds like that's true?

Yes, because you're paying for the price of research and development. Also, high-tech materials tend to be produced in smaller volumes. A good example is construction panels. There have been a lot of attempts to make MDF panels out of something other than wood fibers, such as sunflower seeds and waste fiber. The problem is not the properties of the material, or even the price, it's the ability to get high volume. Companies can bring down the cost of MDF and particle-board because they sell a million tons of it. The non-wood-based, perhaps more sustainable alternatives can't reach that cost, because they can't guarantee enough volume.

That's a pretty dismal outlook. Isn't there a way these products can turn mass market?

I think the way we'll see these high-tech materials become mainstream is when you convince the builders that they could sell more houses if a home buyer will spend 10 percent more initially but get that back tenfold in a more efficient, lower-energy house in the long run. That's where sustainability will come in. Perhaps the construction materials themselves aren't as sustainable, but if they can reduce energy costs, that's where you'll see high-tech trumping other materials.

High-tech has to make the consumer's life easier. So things that require less cleaning, smell nicer longer, reduce the overall heating in your house—those things will sell. High-tech that's high-tech for its own sake is not going to work.

You mention sustainability. How do you relate eco-friendly with high-tech?

The two are often mutually exclusive. Performance rarely has to do with making a less toxic product or one that's better for the environment. You will seldom see material researchers be concerned with sustainability.

At the same time, the increase in the cost of oil has been very good in a way because it has kick-started the biopolymers area and forced people to think about alternative materials to plastic. So we're offering substitutes that are more sustainable.

Is high-tech applicable to residential projects?

If you have a new high-tech material, you need to have a special construction staff to install it. If it doesn't look like steel, they won't know if they can put holes in it or paint it or whatever. The inability to install it can be a real limitation to high-tech. It's the same idea with residential homeowners: If they don't know how to put it up or install it or they don't understand the instructions, they're not going to bother.

Where are you seeing the most interesting use of high-tech materials?

I would say it's more dependent on the architect, whether they're building in Sweden or Beijing or Seattle. It's a very talented and rare architect who uses new materials. You need to be able to prototype the material and develop it and have faith that it's going to last and be viable. So the architects who are making those attempts at using new materials—they are brave, but they also have good resources and can have these things tested.

Do any particular architects come to mind?

I think that Herzog & de Meuron put a lot of thought into their buildings' outer surfaces and actually use the materials to inform their designs. What I like is their understanding of what a material will do over time. For me, an understanding of how materials age is everything. I'm waiting to see when we'll be mature enough to enjoy the degradation of plastics. The rust on metal, the patina on copper, the wearing of wood, we love—think it adds authenticity to a project or object. With plastics, we don't have that appreciation yet. When plastic looks old, we think it's in need of replacement, and I wonder when we'll get over that.

Well, some plastics off-gas as they age, which is less than appealing.

True. So perhaps people are reluctant to use new materials because there's not a belief or understanding that they'll age well.

Do you see durability or longevity as being part of what it means to be high-tech?

No. I think they can be ephemeral. The point of some high-tech materials is that they're only supposed to last as long as they need to, and then they're no longer of any use.

What do you predict for the future of high-tech material development?

I haven't seen any really new materials in a number of years, and I don't think I will. We're not going to see any new metals, because we've alloyed almost every single material we can think of. We've reached a point with plastics that we've mixed together as many different types of polymers as we can. We are at an end point for existing materials.

The areas in which we'll see development are nanotech and biomaterials. The ability of nature to grow me, to grow you, to grow a tree out of the most basic stuff is way beyond our current abilities.