Description
This Applied Studies Elective seminar will investigate the role of veneers and laminates in contemporary architecture and material production. Whether made of a real material, like hardwood or stone, or a printed surface made to look and textured like the real, veneers and laminates are thin layers bonded with adhesives, heat and pressure to a cheaper surface or substrate hidden below. The applications of this inexpensive, ready-made product spans furniture and cabinetry to industrial design and architecture. Its wide range availability and breath of applications reflects the state of contemporary industrial material production and its propensity towards the lamination of surfaces: the process of manufacturing a material in multiple thin layers, so that the composite material achieves improved strength, stability, sound insulation, weather proofing, appearance, or other properties from the use of different materials. This is flatness pressed into service -performative, decorative, or b