This course is a design research seminar that explores the intersections of matter, fabrication, form, and ecology. Students research and design with biological media to expand sociotechnical imaginaries of architecture, and to speculate on ecologies of the future. Ecological relationships are the mechanisms by which we unmake Nature, its commodification, and its exploitation. We navigate the contours of ecology without nature through biosynthetic making; encountering issues of growth, decay, stability, and mutation that will necessitate materially informed methods of design to prepare ground for environmental resilience, aesthetic challenges, volatility, uncertainty, and a degree of softness. The course focuses on rapid-growth and locally available materials like algae, mycelium, fibrous grasses, clays, and bacterial cellulose; as well as fabrication techniques which are able to handle biological limitations. We utilize digital fabrication techniques including laser cutting, milling, vacuum forming, casting, and 3D printing with filaments and pastes. The course introduces contemporary theories, methods, and built projects; and will culminate in student-led design work and the development of 1:1 prototypes.

1. Ecology and Entanglement / the Anthropocene, Entanglement and Control, Expressivity /// 2. Biological Thinking / Biodesign and Bioart, Growth Assembly and Morphogenesis /// 3. Patterning / Modeling Ecological Phenomena, 3D Modeling and Simulation with Rhino and Grasshopper /// 4. Grow Labs / Material Research and Design with Algae, Mycelium, Pastes, Bioplastics /// 5. Speculative Futures and Niche Construction

Student work here by Gil Jang (1); Tyng Peck (2, 3, 4, 8); Alex Wang (5); Christoph Eckrich (6, 10); Gil Jang, Alex Wang, and Longney Luk (7); and Clara Zhao (9)

No prerequisites. Offered through IDeATe (Integrative, Design, Arts, and Technology) at Carnegie Mellon University. Developed and taught in Fall 2019.