1

Introduction

This chapter introduces the classifications and technical standards of building decorative material; briefly states its status and functions in construction projelts.

1.1 Materials

Status and Development of Building Decorative

Modern architecture should not only meet the need of people’s everyday life, but also create a comfortable living environment for people. Material decorating the building surface and beautifying the environment is called building decorative material or “facing material”, which is the material base of building decoration projects. General decorative impression and function are achieved and highlighted by the texture, shape, design and pattern, and function of building decorative material and other auxiliary products.

The decorative effect of building decorative material, which is the combination of material, technology, model designing and aesthetics, is greatly restrained by the material itself, especially is affected by its decorative features such as gloss, texture, design and pattern. E.g., when the external wall of a high building is decorated with glass curtain wall and aluminum curtain wall, it reveals to people a modernistic architectural style with its bright gloss, brilliant colors and kaleidoscope-like shining appearance. Building decorative material is the important material base of building decoration. Only after we know about the functions and characteristics of building decorative material, make right selections according to building and environment conditions can we maximize the advantages of each material and make the best use of everything, finally realize the design idea. In general, building decorative material has outstanding features in construction practice.

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Type

External wall decorative material

Internal wall decorative material

Floor decorative material

With the rapid development of building industry and the growing demands of people in material and spirit, great progress has been made in modem decorative material in China. And it has also been greatly stimulated by the construction of a great number of luxurious hotels, restaurants, large marketplaces, gymnasiums and entertainment buildings. With the progress of science and technology and the development of building material industry, the field of new decorative material will step into a new stage in type, specification and grade, and will become more and more functionalized, integrated, serialized and standardized. As people are being better off, they will grow higher and higher demands for qualified buildings with more and better functions. All these will be realized mostly depending on material with suitable functions. Therefore, multifunctional building decorative material with features such as lightweight, high strength, high durability, fire proofing, shock resistance, heat preservation, sound insulation and water proofing will be highly required in the future.

Application site Commonly-used decorative material

Decorative material applied to all external parts of a building, including external walls, terraces and awnings etc.

Decorative material applied to internal structures, including internal wall surface, dados, plinths, partition walls, flower shelves etc. absorption decorative board Decorative material applied to such structures as ground surface, floor surface and stairs etc.

Natural granite, ceramic decorative products, glass products, external wall coating, metal products, decorative concrete, decorative mortar

Wallpaper, wall cloth, internal wall coating, fabric ornaments, plastic facing decorative board, marble, artificial stone, internal wall glazed tile, artificial boardsheet, glass products, thermal insulation and sound

Carpet, floor coating, natural stone, artificial stone, ceramic floor tile, wood floor, plastic floor

1.2 Types of Building Decorative Materials

There are varieties of building decorative material which is classified according to different factors. For instance, according to application site, it is classified to external and internal wall, floor, suspended ceiling and roof decorative materials etc. (See Table 1.1); according to chemical composition, classified to metal, non-metal and composite materials etc. (See Table 1.2).

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Type Application site

Ceiling decorative

material

Decorative material applied

indoors and for ceiling decoration

Commonly-used decorative material

Gypsum board, decorative mineral wool sound absorption

board, decorative perlite sound absorption board, glass wool. decorative sound ahsorption hoard, decorative

calcium-plastic foam absorption board, decorative polystyrene foam plastic sound absorption board, fiber

board, coating

Table 1.2 Classification of Building Decoration Material Based on Chemical Composition

Ferrous metal

Nonferrous metal Metal inateria

Steel, stainless steel. colored stainless steel, aluminum and

aluminum alloy, copper and copper alloy, gold, silver

Nonmetal matcrial

Natural finishing stone

Ceramic

dccorativc

products

Glass

decorative products

Gypsum decorative

products

White cement, colored cement

Decorative Concrete tile

Decorative mortar

Natural marble, natural granite

Glazed tile, colored glazed tile, ceramic mosaic tile

1 leat absorption glass, hollow glass, laser glass,

cmbossed glass, color glass, hollow glass brick,

glass mosaic, coated glass, mirror glass

Decorative gypsum board, gypsum plaster,

mounted decorative gypsum board, decorative

gypsum sound absorption board, gypsum art products

Colored concrete pavement brick. cement concrete

Composite material

kganic and inorganic

naterial

vletal and nonmetal

naterial

Decorative coating coating

Decorative calcium-plastic foam sound absorption board, artificial

matblc, artificial Eranite

Color-coated copper plate

Floor coating, external wall coating, internal wall

norganic material

Plastic decorative I lboard products

Plastic wallpaper, plastic floor, plastic decorative

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1.3 Brief Introduction of Technological Standards of Building Decorative Materials

To ensure the quality, modernized production and scientific management of decorative material, unified standards must be established to regulate the technical requirements of products, mainly including product specifications, classifications, technical requirements, test methods, regulations of inspection, labels, transportation and storage precautions etc. e.g., each cement, ceramic or steel product has its own product standards.

The standard of building decorative material is the technical basis for grading the quality of products and the inspection and acceptance basis to both sides of supply and demand.

1. Commonly-used Standards in China

(1) National Standard National standard includes compulsory standard (code name GB) and

recommended standard (code name GB/T). Compulsory standard is technical guidance document which must be implemented nationally. Products’ technical specification must meet requirements specified in compulsory standard. Recommended standard can be replaced with other relevant standard.

(2) Industry (or department) Standard Each industry (or competent department) establishes technical standard to

regulate the product quality in the industry. It is also national guidance document though it is issued by the production department in charge. Examples are: Building Material Standards (code name JC) and Building Industry Standards (code name JG) etc.

(3) Local Standard Local standard is local technical guidance document issued by local

(4) Enterprise Standard It is technical document enacted and issued by an enterprise to guide its own

production (code name QB), and only applied to the enterprise. Enterprise standard should be formulated for each product which has no national standard or ministerial level standard to follow. Moreover, the technical

competent department (code name DBJ) and applied locally.

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requirements in enterprise standard should meet or surpass the similar (or relevant) national standard.

2. World Standard and Regional Standard

World-wide “ISO” international standard. Leading group standard and company standard in the world, such as ASTM

Standards “American Society for Testing and Material”, BS “British Standards” and so on.

Regional standard. Standard adopted in industrially advanced countries, such as Deutsche Industrie Normen “DIN”, Japanese Industrial Standards “JIS” and so on.

1.4 Functions and Selection of Building Decorative Materials

1. Functions of Building Decorative Material

The purposes of interior and exterior decoration of a building are to beautify its appearance and acquire certain architectural art style, create a multifunctional elegant interior environment and effectively enhance its durability. These purposes are mostly realized by using building decorative material on building surface.

Architecture is plastic arts. Its appearance effect is achieved by the color of the material and the shape, proportion and the virtual and real contrast of the whole building, and is also affected by the texture, line style and color of exterior wall decorative material. Functions of decorative material are mainly exhibited in the following four aspects.

(1 ) Texture Texture is the comprehensive feeling given by the material’s surface

structure, patterns and designs, colors, glosses and transparency etc. Different material gives people different feelings due to its degree of softness or hardness, lightness or weightiness, roughness or slenderness, coldness or warmness etc. Different surfaces of the same material reveal different textures, e.g. common glass and embossed glass, mirror granite and axe-chopped stone give people different feelings with their own textures. Same surface processing approach usually creates same or resembled texture, though sometimes there is a slight difference. For instance, artificial marble or

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imitative wood wares are not as compatible or real as those made of natural marble or wood, though sometimes they look almost the same as genuine ones.

(2) Color, Gloss and Transparency Color is the result of the material’s selective absorption of spectrum.

Different colors give people different feelings. For example, red and pink make people feel warm and enthusiastic, green and blue give people the feeling of serenity, coolness and quietness. Gloss, represented by glossiness, is the nature that material surface directionally reflects light. Smoother surface has higher glossiness. In direct reflection, material surface shows specular features, so the reflection is also called mirror reflection. Different glossiness creates different brightness to material surface. It also enlarges the field of vision or creates a different virtual and real contrast. Transparency is another property related to light. An object which transmits light and can be penetrated is called transparent body, whereas an object which transmits light but can not be penetrated is called translucent body, and an object which neither transmits light nor is penetrated is called opaque body. Materials with different transparency can be used to keep out light or adjust the brightness of light to create different optical effects according to actual needs and also make an object image clear or blurred.

(3) Shape and Size To decorative materials such as bricks, plates and coiled materials, there are

specified requirements and specifications in shapes and sizes, natural patterns, textures and artificial patterns or designs. Various line styles and designs are made up of decorative materials in different shapes and sizes, patterns, colors and glosses etc. to create different decorative effects to meet the needs of different building structures and line styles.

(4) Stain Resistance, Good Clean-ability and Scrub-resistance Stain resistance refers to the ability of the material surface to resist the

action of dirt and to retain its prime color and gloss. Clean-ability refers to the nature that the material surface is easy to be cleaned by wind, rain or manual cleaning. Strong stain resistance and good clean-ability assure that the decorative effect of the material keep fresh for a longer time, so they should be taken into consideration when we are selecting decorative material for floors, platforms, external walls, washrooms and kitchens etc. Material’s scrub-resistance is actually its wear-resistance, classified to dry-scrub

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resistance (named as dry-scrub resistance) and wet-scrub resistance (named as washing-resistance). The higher scrub-resistance, the longer service life the material has.

2. Selection of Building Decorative Material

There are varieties of building decorative material with different functions and features, as well as different application purposes. Therefore, there are couples of things to be considered in selection

(1 ) The Type and Grade of the Building to be Decorated Public and residential buildings need to use different decorative materials.

Residence is where people live. Apart from working time, people usually hang out most of their time in their houses. Therefore, the interior decoration of houses is to provide a comfortable living environment. Buildings such as offices, classrooms, libraries, luxurious hotels and large marketplaces should adopt different materials according to their grades and decorative durability. Granite mirror plate has great wear-resistance and excellent decorative effect, so it’s suitable for public places in luxurious hotels such as lobbies, corridors and stairways. To common residential living rooms, it’s suitable to adopt ceramic flooring tiles.

In building decoration, it is costly to apply only high-end materials, and it is difficult to create certain architectural art style to adopt too many types and styles of materials.

(2) Decorative Effect Material’s line style, size and texture create a very clear decorative effect to

people both psychologically and visually. As to texture, we should make full use of the innate natural patterns and designs and the prime colors of materials or various artificially imitated patterns and designs like those of natural materials to achieve decorative effects such as simplicity, quiet elegance, nobility and dignity; with regard to size, it should meet certain proportion. For instance, marble and colored terrazzo tile create better effect applied in a hall than in a residential house. Both material’s innate texture and line style are factors of the overall effect of the building decoration. For instance, applying aluminum alloy decorative plates to external walls will create an effect with concavo-convex line styles.

(3) Application Environments and Functions of the Decorated Part For example, bathrooms and kitchens are often heavily filled with vapor

and smoke. The wall surface there should be covered with smooth internal

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wall glazed tiles to simplify the work of washing and cleaning. Plastic wallpaper is widely used as internal wall decorative material, but rarely applied to internal wall-surface in residential houses because it is easy to get dirty. It’s very suitable to adopt fabric wallpaper to cover bedroom walls. Ceramic flooring tiles are usually adopted in living rooms in southern areas due to its cleanness, excellent appearance and coolness; in northern cold area, it’s appropriate to use wood flooring with certain thermal insulation and preservation. Anti-slip feature of materials should be considered for the decoration of moist ground. For instance, it’s wise to apply anti-slip ceramic mosaic tiles to washroom and bathroom ground. The ground of stores and waiting rooms, often crowded with people, should be decorated with colored terrazzo, ceramic flooring tiles or marble. (4) Expense of Decorative Material Economic index of decorative material is used to estimate the cost and the

1) Reference price. Price known from the manufacturers’ product catalogs

2) Market price. 3) Construction surcharge. Decorative material’s price has a direct relationship with the cost of

architectural decoration. To ensure that the decorative project is economical, its one-off investment and future maintenance fee should be taken into consideration when we are selecting material.

expense of a decorative project. It is considered in three factors:

and relevant brochures.

1.5 Learning Goals and Methods of the Course

The academic goal of the course Building Decorative Materials is to coordinate with the teaching and learning of major subjects and to establish a great knowledge foundation for architectural decorative design and construction. In order to master and correctly select decorative materials, firstly, it’s very important to learn about the components, functions and applications of various materials, among which the most important is the functions and characteristics of materials and other contents should be learned based on this center; secondly, we should keep in close touch with construction practice, as Building Decorative Materials is a course that can be learned efficiently and effectively only in practice. So in learning, we should

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combine theory and practice together and manage to cany out more on-site practice; thirdly, the method of comparison is helpful. By comparing various components and structures of materials, we can learn and master their characteristics and applications, especially their common properties and particularities.

Questions for thinking and practical tasks at the end of each chapter make a summary of the theoretical knowledge and practical applications, so they must be mastered and well done.

Questions for Reviewing and Thinking

1.1 What is building decorative material? How is it classified? 1.2 What are the functions of building decorative material? 1.3 Which factors should be considered in the selection of building

decorative material?