Mediated Matter: Design & Invention in the New Biological Age is a comprehensive monograph on the work of Neri Oxman, the architect and designer whose practice moves between computer science, digital fabrication, materials science and synthetic biology.
About This Book
At the centre of Oxman's work is what she calls material ecology—an approach that treats nature as a set of substances and processes that design can learn from, adapt and grow with. This substantial volume sets out that idea through six core chapters: Biopolymers, Cellular Solids, Fibers, Functional Pigments, Organic Comb and Symbiotic Microbes. Projects range from structures spun by silkworms to synthetic apiaries and platforms for printing with biopolymers, each presented through diagrams, explanatory texts, process documentation and photography. It is the most complete record yet of a body of work that has reshaped how designers think about the relationship between built things and living systems.
Key Features
- A comprehensive survey of Neri Oxman's design research and built projects
- Six thematic chapters, from Biopolymers to Symbiotic Microbes
- Projects including silkworm-built structures, synthetic apiaries and biopolymer printing
- Extensive diagrams, process documentation and photography in colour
What You'll Discover
- The principles of material ecology and how they reframe nature as a design collaborator
- How computation, fabrication and biology can be combined in a single design process
- The research methods behind some of the most influential experimental design work of recent years
- New possibilities for structures that work with, rather than against, their ecosystems
About the Author
Neri Oxman is an architect, scientist, engineer and inventor whose research brings design together across disciplines and scales. She founded the field of material ecology, and her work seeks to align the things we make with the ecosystems around them. She has long been named among the architects most likely to shape the future of the discipline.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Dimensions: 214 × 306 mm
- Pages: 608
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9780500024416
- Publisher: Thames & Hudson
Perfect For: Architects, designers and researchers in computational design and biofabrication, students of materials and sustainability, and anyone following the frontier where design meets biology.