MATERIALS MATTER EXHIBITION 2024

On 19, 20 and 21 March, the Materials Matter Exhibition 2024 took place in Madrid, the event organised by Matter within the REBUILD fair at IFEMA. The exhibition brought together innovative, environmentally respectful materials for architecture and interior design projects, accompanied by two programmes of talks with leading studios.

Thirty exhibiting brands took part, from different parts of Spain and from countries such as Italy, Israel, the United States, Belgium and France. In this report we look back at the exhibition space, the round table in the Main Auditorium Sika and the Talks That Matter: Sustainability and Beauty series.

MATERIALS MATTER EXHIBITION 2024 - REBUILD1:29

Materials Matter at REBUILD 2024

A materials space at the major gathering for industrialised construction.

REBUILD is the building innovation fair held at IFEMA Madrid alongside the Congreso Nacional de Arquitectura Avanzada y Construcción 4.0 (National Congress of Advanced Architecture and Construction 4.0). According to the organisers, the 2024 edition brought together 25,597 professionals, 587 exhibiting companies and 628 speakers.

In that context, the Materials Matter Exhibition 2024 occupied stand 7B201 in hall 7: a space of terracotta-toned arches organised around a large sample table, where architects and interior designers could see, touch and compare each brand's materials and talk directly to the manufacturers.

Thirty brands and their materials

From lime finishes to taps.

The brands showed new finishes and products for architecture and interior design projects, including lime coatings, recycled plastic, timber cladding, insulation, recycled vinyl flooring, textured cement coatings, compacted stone, acoustic insulation, paper wallcoverings and taps, among others.

Exhibiting brands

Ardex, Bathco, Bolibar, Bolon, Bonoso, Centroalum, Cielo, Cristina Rubinetterie, Elval Colour, Farrugia, Fede, Formma, Gessi, Greenarea, GSI, Inkiostro Bianco, LedsC4, MIPA, Molduras del Noroeste, Oberflex, OLI, Omexco, Plastic People, Polimer Tecnic, Ritmonio, Ro Concrete, Targa, Vermont Wildwoods, Vidriera del Cardoner and Wall&Deco.

Criteria for selecting materials in the contemporary design process

A round table in the Main Auditorium Sika.

Alongside the exhibition space, we organised the round table “Criteria for selecting materials in the contemporary design process” in the Main Auditorium Sika, with Ramón Esteve, Belén Moneo and Jeff Brock (Moneo Brock), Albert Gil (batlleiroig) and Izaskun Chinchilla. The speakers explained projects, strategies and criteria for selecting materials in today's projects.

The discussion covered the need to reduce emissions, promote wellbeing and enhance biodiversity, and the importance of working with what already exists, with local products and craftspeople, with materials that store CO2, with the orientation of the site, with traditional materials using new technologies and with nature, optimising and recycling water and producing energy. Each studio illustrated this with one of its own projects:

• Ramón Esteve: the Bombas Gens Art Centre in Valencia, a former hydraulic pump factory dating from 1930, where original materials and elements were recovered and set in dialogue with new ones such as wood, rodeno sandstone and galvanised steel.
• Moneo Brock: the Plaza de la Villa in Sencelles (Mallorca), a space formerly taken up by a car park and turned into a meeting place, with pergolas, benches, local materials and a careful selection of plants.
• batlleiroig: Albert Gil argued that how we use a material matters more than the material itself, and went through what he considers indispensable in a contemporary project: existing fabric, natural and traditional materials, light and shade, vegetation, water management and energy production.
• Izaskun Chinchilla: a workspace for craftspeople that prioritises contact with nature and natural light, with natural and local, recycled and recyclable materials, and with the relationship with the surroundings as the main material.

We saw several successful projects: work with great sensitivity towards its surroundings and its users, and with the aim of improving the lives of the people who use it.

Talks That Matter: Sustainability and Beauty

Nine studios, three building types and three days of talks.

In the Workshop Arena Auditorium, meanwhile, we organised the Talks That Matter: Sustainability and Beauty series across the three days of the fair, in which architecture and interior design studios shared recent projects with different materialities applied to housing, hotels and workplaces. Different project types were discussed, with particular emphasis on strategies for designing buildings in which sustainability and beauty are structural pillars.

Brands including Gessi, Bolibar, Fede, Elval Colour and Bolon joined us for the talks. In Bolibar's case, its managing director, Bruna Bolíbar, took part on 19 March in a panel with three architecture studios and Gessi.

Thank you, and see you at the next edition

We would like to thank everyone who attended the Materials Matter Exhibition 2024 for the exchange of knowledge it generated, strengthening existing ties and creating new ones between professionals in the sector and industry, and introducing new materials and projects focused on sustainability and innovation. Thank you to the exhibiting brands, the speakers and everyone who joined us. We look forward to seeing you at the next edition!

Epilogue: the following Materials Matter Exhibition was held on 16 and 17 October 2024 at the Col·legi d'Arquitectes de Catalunya (COAC) in Barcelona.