Five Cutting-Edge Building Materials to Watch in 2016

BLAINE BROWNELL, AIA predicts his list of 5 building materials to watch in 2016.

The following materials technologies, I expect, will make significant headway this year. None is yet commercially available, but many will launch in 2016 and the others will get that much closer to market availability during the period. This motley collection of innovations, which includes clothing made from synthesized spider threads, consumer products bio-engineered from discarded shrimp shells, and a bridge built entirely by robots, represents the culmination of years—sometimes decades—of research. I list them below in the anticipated chronological order of realization, although surprises and setbacks are inevitable. Join me in watching how these material technologies unfold in 2016.