So when people look at you know, at the ability to 3D print using a robotic arm, they're very, very curious about the possibility of in the future, printing full scale houses, so I think the media lab and specifically in the Media Matter Group, we don't focus only on efficiency translations. For that, I would open a practice in the commercial world, but that's not the function of this lab... — CNN's - THE NEXT LIST
Neri Oxman is a designer, architect, artist and founder of the Mediated Matter group at MIT’s Media Lab. Neri Oxman was recently profiled in a 30-minute segment and interviewed by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. CNN also published a short essay in which Ms. Oxman begins to define a design credo suitable for the contemporary context, wherein the World-as-Machine is replaced by the World-as- Organism. The five components include; Growth over Assembly, Integration over Segregation, Heterogeneity over Homogeneity, Difference over Repetition and Material is the New Software.
"I don't want to design a building as I have learned," Neri Oxman tells CNN, "I want to question what it means to design a building." Oxman explains how the whole is more than the sum of its individual parts in this model—and those parts can also grow and transform in a similar manner as the natural environment. "There is nothing that I consider unachievable or undoable or inconceivable," says. Recently named as one of the most creative people in design by Fast Company, Oxman has a very distinct design process. Listed below are the five avant-garde design credos that she employs to create innovative projects that are inspired by—and operate similar to—nature.
Some ideas by Neri to develop a manifesto. http://www.thelavinagency.com/blog-cnns-next-big-thing-neri-oxmans-world-as-organism-design-model.html
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1. Growth Over Assembly: "Nature grows things," Oxman explains. As such, her design projects are not put together for a single purpose, but rather, can grow and adapt over time to meet the changing needs of its users and environment.
2. Integration Over Segregation: Instead of creating buildings that require heating and cooling systems to shield the interior from the elements, for example, Oxman suggests creating building skins that contract and expand to respond to the environment around them. Oxman and her team are researching ways to print breathable skins that can act as both a barrier and a filter to the world around it.
3. Heterogeneity Over Homogeneity: While man-made products are predominantly constructed from a single material, things in nature are very heterogeneous and composed of many different materials. Oxman seeks to move objects away from their industrial homogeneity.
4. Difference Over Repetition: In nature, Oxman explains that every cellular unit is unique. By understanding how variation and difference cause repetition in nature, she says you can then learn which elements are repeatable and which are unique.
5. Material Is The New Software: "Our ability to design and fabricate intelligent materials and objects will no longer depend on patching materials with electronics, but rather on our ability to turn material itself into software," she writes. "It inspires us to embed material with distributed intelligence rather than attach it to an on-off switch."
