I'm Ready for My Close-Up: Beautiful Building Materials

We start with one of the most well documented projects on Houzz — the Quaker Bluff Residence in Vermont — and a backlit stone wall. The effect is certainly dramatic, but it is not something that can pulled off with any stone. For light to transmit through some stones — marble, for example — the material has to be cut so thin it loses its capacity to support itself. Onyx, on the other hand, is ideal for such an application, yielding its unique yellow-orange glow.

A detail of polished stone is shown for a house in Hawaii. Think concrete, and something as colorful as this probably doesn't come to mind. Pigment can be added to the concrete mixture and used as a way to express the local context by mining the pigment in the area.

Moving on to one of my favorite materials, Cor-Ten Steel, this close-up does a great job of showing the variation in color found in the material. A sandpaper-like texture can be gleaned from this photo, a sign of the oxidation that adds the coat of rust to the steel.

This photo shows the meeting of this house on the land, in particular the three materials that make up this condition: the wall, the foundation, the ground. In this case we have wood panels, poured concrete and gravel. That the architect documented this detail means they considered this to be an important area, something they treated with simplicity and care.

Here we see three planes in a layered composition. Horizontal striations with random voids create a rhythmic and borderline chaotic effect. Nevertheless, the close-up reveals the craftsmanship to be quite high.

This bathroom wall is found in the same residence as the previous photo. Again we can see an emphasis on horizontal rhythm and a certain randomness. The latter is achieved by composing three types of glass tile.

The textured "pillows" of this limestone backsplash leads to both interesting shadows and a visual softening of a hard material.

A fair number of the details in this ideabook are the product of NYC-based Workshop/apd, including this grille. The closely-spaced black rods allow light to pass through while obscuring one's view. In another project by the same architects ...

... horizontal bars are used in a lobby renovation to spell out the building's address. The rectangular pieces are notched to create the "58." When the sun hits this elevation, light more readily moves through the notches to spell out the address on the lobby walls.