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Materials Hub is a free platform created by architects that preserves firms' collective knowledge while providing access to nearly 100,000 building materials with detailed specifications. The AI-powered tools help architects overcome fragmented knowledge and overwhelming product options to make better material choices that elevate designs and sustainability.
Every design involves countless decisions, but it's your material choices that truly determine whether your vision reaches its potential. Materials aren't just components—they're the soul of architecture, transforming bold ideas into spaces that truly serve your clients' needs. While deadlines and budget pressures often tempt us to fall back on familiar choices, truly innovative designs demand materials that match their ambition. Excellence in architecture requires both visionary design and masterful material selection working in harmony.
Our profession's material knowledge is fragmented—scattered across countless drives, buried in outdated spreadsheets, or locked in the minds of retiring experts. How often do we reuse materials from previous projects, not because they're the best choice but because they're the safe choice? With over 50,000 building material suppliers in North America offering hundreds of thousands of products, staying current with innovations becomes nearly impossible. We rush decisions under pressure, knowing there might be better solutions but lacking the means to find them.
When we left architecture school, we were passionate about materials. We understood their power to transform spaces, to connect with human emotion, to solve complex performance challenges and to meet the sustainability goals for the environment. But somewhere along the way, the poetry of material selection got buried under pragmatic pressures. Value engineering became a dreaded phrase. Product substitutions became routine compromises.
Created by architects and designers, Materials Hub emerged from this challenge. Born from our deep love of materials and profound understanding of how the right choices transform buildings, we've developed an integrated approach that enhances – rather than changes – how architects and designers naturally work.
At its heart is the Firm Library, a dynamic repository that captures and preserves your team's material expertise and project history. This living knowledge base grows with every project, ensuring valuable insights about product performance, installation experiences, and successful applications are never lost. 
New team members can instantly tap into years of accumulated wisdom. Remote teams can access the same depth of material knowledge as those in the office. And when experienced team members retire, their invaluable product knowledge stays with your firm.
By combining your firm's collective wisdom with our unparalleled material database – containing detailed technical specifications, performance data, and sustainability metrics for nearly 100,000 products – we enable teams to leverage past successes while discovering optimal solutions for every project. Our AI-powered search and collaborative decision-making tools seamlessly integrate visual discovery, powerful side-by-side product comparisons, and team collaboration into your existing workflow – providing the tools architects and designers have always needed to make material decisions that enhance project outcomes and deliver lasting value to clients.
Materials Hub does more than preserve knowledge – it transforms how teams work together and delivers results. Each project enriches your firm's collective expertise while sustainable choices and material innovations become naturally integrated into your practice. As teams collaborate seamlessly across locations and experience levels, every material decision builds upon past successes, creating a cycle of continuous improvement that elevates project outcomes.
Your designs deserve materials that are worthy of their vision. Your clients deserve buildings that perform as beautifully as they look. And our planet deserves thoughtful material choices that respect its future.
Join us in transforming how firms manage materials. Together, we can create a future where every material choice elevates design, where innovation flows freely, and where architecture reaches its fullest potential.
Materials Hub is free to architects and designers because we believe in empowering the profession to make better material choices.
Join our growing community of firms elevating their practice through improved material selection.
Because materials matter, and together, we can make them matter more.
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As co-founder of Acelab, Vardhan brings deep architectural expertise from designing U.S. embassies and institutional projects to his mission of transforming how the industry makes material decisions. His vision for a universal language in material selection, developed while at Harvard GSD, has earned Acelab recognition on Forbes' 30 Under 30 2025.
As Executive Chairman of Acelab, Dave brings over three decades of expertise in scaling industry-changing software companies, most notably as CEO of Revit Technology through its landmark acquisition by Autodesk. His vision for transforming how millions of design professionals approach product research and specification builds on his track record of successful leadership.
