Material Shading: Covering the City

As part of "Urban Shade" exhibition, and as then at my first year at Aharon Feiner Eden Materials Library, I was in charge of curating a unique collection of shading materials and technologies from around the world to take part in the exhibition exploring the urgent need for sustainable innovative shading solutions for the urban environment. This collection had some materials designed for shading in urban environments that many times does not get enough attention, alongside materials that have not yet been utilized in this sphere yet reveal infinite opportunities that can change the environment we live in and our quality of life within it.
The raw materials themselves can commence an entire design process that traces their qualities and reveals the possibilities inherent in them. Thus, lead to the creation of new structures, spaces, or products.
How does material assimilate into an urban environment, and how does it influence this environment and its inhabitants? Some shading materials have been used by human society since the dawn of history. Palm fronds, for example, were and still are commonly used to build huts for human shelter. At the other end of the spectrum, there are materials that are situated on the borderline between material and technology and challenge its very existence.
Between tradition and innovation there are developments that have been adapted to modern and industrial production processes, composed of an assortment of ideas and accessible materials from the two ends of the spectrum which are designed and planned for dedicated uses, and can inspire additional uses.