Designing our future bio-materiality
- PDF / 1,967,892 Bytes
- 12 Pages / 595.276 x 790.866 pts Page_size
- 58 Downloads / 232 Views
ORIGINAL ARTICLE
Designing our future bio‑materiality Carole Collet1 Received: 18 July 2019 / Accepted: 29 November 2019 © Springer-Verlag London Ltd., part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract A new road map for design is emerging out of interdisciplinary research across biology and design. Whilst in the second part of the twentieth century, the emergence of the digital realm altered and radically challenged conventional design and manufacturing processes, the beginning of the twenty-first century marks a strong shift towards the amalgamation of the binary code (1s and 0s) with biological systems. With advances in synthetic biology, we can now ‘biofabricate’ like Nature does. By tinkering and altering the DNA code or the environment of growth of living organisms, we can effectively ‘design’ and grow new biomaterials. The role of design is shifting from working with inanimate matter such as plastic and metals to making with animate living entities such as mycelium, yeast and bacteria. This paradigm shift promises to open up new possibilities for biofabricating future intelligent materials as well as for engaging with new sustainable processes. This paper examines strategies and tools for designing with living systems and proposes a framework for design to engage with our future bio-materiality. From biofabrication experiments to synthetic biology propositions, the paper will investigate a series of design artifacts that explores strategies such as co-designing with natural organisms or actuating a new synthetic nature and develop a critique of how biodesign can help shifting towards the crafting of a future sustainable intelligent bio-materiality. Keywords Biodesign · Biofabrication · Bio-materiality · Sustainability
1 Introduction We have evolved out of our ability to harvest, control, or cooperate with natural systems. Simply looking at the history of food, we can witness a long-established relationship with microbial invisible organisms. Fermenting grapes, brewing beer, churning cheese or baking bread are all testimonies to our successful long term cooperation with yeast and microbes. Only, we rarely think of it this way. Journalist Michael Pollan, when writing about our natural history of transformation, references a conversation with food chemist Bruce German. He points out that we would not survive on simply flour and water, but our chances would increase when eating bread. As the yeast naturally present in the wheat is activated by water, a whole new level of nutrients and flavours blossoms Polan (2013). Knowing to trigger and control the life and work of the yeast is the secret of bakers. * Carole Collet [email protected] 1
Design and Living Systems Lab, Central Saint Martins University of the Arts, 1 Granary Square, London N1C4AA, UK
But now, the ability to cooperate with a range of simple living organisms such as yeast is becoming part of the craft of designers. In the past decade, a growing number of architects and designers have begun to explore new biofabrication techniques resonant of our f
Data Loading...
