Picture: © ICD/ITKE University of Stuttgart

Written by Ankitha Gattupalli

The future of the architecture industry holds countless possibilities, as reserach in the domain progresses. One innovation is the ability for structures to be rendered acoustically invisible, absorb earthquake energy, or harvest electricity from the sounds around them. Qualities of this nature can help redefine the functionality and sustainability of buildings. Architects and scientists are at the forefront of this creation. What makes this possible are metamaterials that could offer alternative methods of designing good buildings.

Metamaterials are synthetic composite materials with structures that exhibit properties not usually found in naturally occurring materials. Unlike traditional materials characterized by their chemical composition, metamaterials owe their unique properties to their internal structure. These engineered materials are designed at the microscopic level to manipulate waves, allowing them to be designed for desired reactions with vibrations, sound, or light waves.

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