Shaping Environments: Experiments in Geometry and (Waste)Matter

As of 2020, humanity officially became the maker of the planet. According to research published in Scientific American, all synthetic objects made by humans now outweigh all the living biomass on Earth. This accumulation of new matter has left an irreversible footprint, with the architecture and construction industries contributing to the ossified earthly landscape of waste streams that now constitute our world’s sole responsible material resource. In the 19th century, people commonly mixed blood, clay and sawdust in their products, and reusing materials was a matter of common sense. Today, it has become an absolute necessity.

This design-research seminar explores alternative material formations beyond our current petrochemical reality. Using digital environments and computational tools, such as photogrammetry, depth-map texture modeling, AI workflows and 3D printing, we experiment with shaping new hybrid material systems rooted in the biosphere. Utilizing resources such as biomaterials, food and/or construction waste, our goal is to propose new material paradigms that embrace ecological thinking and environmental stewardship through physical prototyping.