http://materia.nl/

• Mission of library:

Materia gathers most relevant information on new materials, the way they can be or are used, and their producers. strategy: by creating an interactive platform in combination with an ingenious search engine they connect the world of creative professionals like architects and designers with producers and product developers. material database contains hundreds of recently launched materials and fast growing group of registered members, forms the cornerstone for this platform.

• Users/clients:

worldwide community of architects and (interior) designers, mainly for Dutch.

• Suppliers:

suppliers have to pay in order to be on this library platform, this is how they operate.

• Staff:

Materia was founded in 1998 by a small group of idealistic architects. At that time the main focus was limited to gleaning new materials and relevant information.

• System of choosing materials for library: (don't know)

• Material classification/categories:

has a 9 mane categories of materials, each of the category has a little symbol next to the name:

* wood               -WOO123
* natural stones     -NST123
* glass              -GLA123
* metals             -MET123
* plastics           -PLA123
* coatings           -COA123
* ceramics           -CER123
* other naturals     -ONA123
* concretes          -CON123

–reference number:

first 3 letter coming from the material groups, like wood, or natural stones, the it adds number from 3 units. see example below:

Wood - WOO(number)054

Natural stone - NST(number)019

this reference number shows up on the material information side.

• Physical library: (non)

• Website navigation:

the mane materials search navigation is searc engine http://www.materialexplorer.com/

The name 'Material Explorer' originates in 2001 during the Masters project of Arnold van Bezooyen, then design student at the Delft University of Technology. Based upon the assignment written by Professor Michael Ashby, an interface proposal - the Material Explorer - is realized to support designers in materials selection. Research and development of Material Explorer Interface prototypes are evaluated with design students, professional designers and material experts during an iterative design process. The interface-design research and development takes place at the ID-StudioLab (faculty of Industrial Design Engineering). Materials selection methodology and inspiration are by Michael Ashby and Kara Johnson (Cambridge Engineering Design Centre).

the rights of soft wear of Material Explorer, belongs to 'materia'.

• Material Explorer:

in order to look for materials you need to login (its for free).

page with options:

• start searching for material(Material Explorer)
• view your favourite materials(don't know how it works yet)
• edit your profile(don't know how it works yet)

and

• material explorer newsletter…..2006,2005 (in total they have 12)

if you want to look for materials, you go to:

• start searching for materials, where you get the choice:
• materials/all groups mentioned above-in material categories/
• sensorial/there you can choose:
  • glossiness/glossy/satin/matt/
  • translucent/0%/0-50%/50-100%/
  • structure /hight density/low density/
  • texture/coarse/medium/smooth/
  • hardness/hard/soft/depressible/
  • temperature /warm/medium/cool/
  • acoustics/good/moderate/poor/
  • odeur/strong/moderate/none/
• technical/choice:
  • fire resistance/good/moderate/poor/unknown/
  • UV resistance/…./…./…./…./
  • weather resistance /…./…./…./…./
  • scratch resistance /…./…./…./…./
  • weight /…./…./…./…./
  • chemical resistance /…./…./…./…./
  • renewable/…./…./…./…./
• country of origin (can choose)

you can mark all qualities you think you want to have in the one of material categories and as a result you will get list of materials, which will match your needs. -click on one of material descriptions (picture, name of material and info. with ref. number) -it opens a separate page:

1. picture(with variations)

1. ref.numb and general info. on material

1. all sensorial and technical classifications

1. PDF download

1. add to favourites(create file)

1. project search

1. manufacture info

-PDF download

1. general material info with ref. numb., info on who made the material

1. contact info.

1. pictures with variations

1. sensorial and technical information

-material explorer newsletter

it consist from 3 sections:

1. selection of new materials(about 10 new materials/ if you click on on of material, it will bring you to the page with information and picture on materials)
2. the spot light materials (Every month materia selects a material for its interesting sensorial or technical properties, or simply because they like it).
3. collection on thematic subjects (such as - inflatables or design show…how do they select that-don't know)

• Consultancy/service:

them search engine allows registered members to track down, select and compare a wide and growing variety of new innovative materials. Www.materialexplorer.com offers the possibility to search for new materials via sensorial and technical properties as selection criteria and is free of charge for registered members.

• Extra activities: online shop

traveling exhibition in combination with a book:

Every 2 to 3 years Materia develops a unique traveling exposition. Presently Material Skills is traveling around the world of fairs, exhibitions, musea and universities. This exposition offers visitors the opportunity to actually touch, sense and see various recently launched materials which inspires, educates and enhances creativity. The recent success of both Material Skills and its predecessor Future Materials is to a large extent based on this unique innovative ambiance.

• Library usibility: (non, as its only online)