ABSTRACT
When matter becomes material – becomes an artice of human agency – the role of energy is only amplied. Human agency multiplies the patterning of matter with additional energy inputs and processes. e energy of many processes are embedded or embodied in materials. Energy is what binds matter, what activates matter, what transforms matter, and what organizes matter. Matter is captured energy. e denial of matter as captured energy in the discourse of architecture, perpetuating the separation of material and energy in architectural systems and expertise, deforms architecture’s view of reality and the physical world. In doing so, it also deprives architecture of richer formations of matter and energy. When matter is understood as an expression of a pattern of energy, it can alter the way we think not only of materials but it call also alter the way we think of whole systems and techniques. What would change if architects viewed matter as captured energy?
