It is a sign of both a shift in our relationship to organic life and the ubiquity of new information technologies that a young generation of architects has seized the digital tools within their reach to conceive of new forms in direct interaction with biological life. This is happening both through computational power and digitally-controlled additive fabrication. Nexi Oxman—an architect and a researcher at MIT, where she founded the Mediated Matter design research group—brings up the links between biology and design in her work on materials and 3-D printing. They reflect the use of biology as a technique and an approach to design that is inspired by nature and that modifies the very properties of materials themselves.
Neri Oxman is an architect, designer. She is the director of the Material Ecology research initiative, and teaches at the MIT Media Lab.
Stream: The Gemini acoustic chaise and the Vocal Vibrations project pay close attention to the body, including its biological and medical dimension. To what extent is this emblematic of your work? How do you articulate technology (computation and numeric fabrication) and biology in your creative work? Is it a statement of influence, inspiration, and/or a form of implementation?
Neri Oxman: I consider biology itself a form of technology. It is a “wet technology” that deploys a series of chemical reactions to generate energy and enable complex life functions. Only, instead of the digital binary logic it uses DNA to encode functionality.
Inspired by nature, I have envisioned and introduced a new design approach called “material ecology” that aims to establish a deeper, more scientific and precise relationship between the design object and an environment. This approach supports a holistic view of design, promoting the design of products that are characterized by property gradients and multi-functionality. Material ecology considers computation, fabrication, and the material itself as inseparable and harmonized dimensions of design. My research has introduced a suite of biologically-informed digital fabrication tools, techniques, and technologies culminating in designs that have a profound connection with an environment.
Stream: You explain that Gemini represents a first change of scale in the use of digital manufacturing technologies, in conjunction with traditional additive techniques. Do you think the evolution of digital fabrication technologies (with the increase of computational power) will soon have an impact on a larger scale, like the building scale, or even change the face of our cities?
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