Shaping Environments: Bio-Matter
| College of Fine Arts CMU | Fall 2023 & 2024 |
| Research Seminar | Design Computation |
In our world, waste streams constitute the only responsible material resource. As of 2020, humanity officially became the primary shaper of the planet. According to Scientific American, all human-made objects now outweigh the total biomass of all living organisms on Earth. The continued accumulation of synthetic matter leaves an irreversible footprint, contributing to the ossified state of the planet’s landscape. Shaping Environments is a design-research seminar that explores alternative material formations beyond our current petrochemical reality. Positioned at the intersection of matter, environment, form, and advanced manufacturing, the course investigates new techno-ecological imaginaries through the production of material prototypes. It seeks to discover resilient material systems in which architectural forms actively participate in self-care, remaining deeply entangled with their local ecologies. These experiments in geometry integrate waste-matter with biological processes, enabled by the binding power of bioplastics and mycelium.
Pioneering Biomaterials: Digital Exhibition