Concepts of beauty in architecture must extend beyond the visual and include attention to materiality. Developing an understanding of materials acknowledges the advancements in technology and fabrication and asks how humans can be more resourceful and sustainable through good design. Current waste in construction and demolition of the built environment demands architects to continue to re-think material choices and consider the affects humans have on the world at a more substantial level. This creates healthy variety in the built environment at all scales, while expanding the reach and influence architects currently possess .

A specific study of plastics provides a small-scale example of pursuit in materiality through sustainable thinking.  Using a recycled and recyclable acrylic to create a stool demonstrates one way in which architects can develop an intimate understanding of material through fabrication and technological advances. Instead of accepting the standard sheet of material as a finish material or bathroom partition, architects can take on their design role to implement materials in new ways. Producing a stool out of acrylic by using CNC routing pushes the material’s properties of structural integrity, tooling ability, and function in the built environment, all while being hyper aware of energy and waste that goes in to the making of a specific object.