{"id":72251,"date":"2022-09-18T04:29:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-18T08:29:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/15-104\/f2022\/?p=72251"},"modified":"2022-09-18T04:29:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-18T08:29:41","slug":"looking-outwards-03-computational-fabrication-6","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/courses.ideate.cmu.edu\/15-104\/f2022\/2022\/09\/18\/looking-outwards-03-computational-fabrication-6\/","title":{"rendered":"Looking Outwards 03: Computational Fabrication"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Aguahoja (1 – 3)<\/strong>
Contributors: Neri Oxman & MIT Mediated Matter Group
2018 – 2021<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Physical installation at MIT Media Lab in February 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The project I have chosen is the Aguahoja collection (Aguahoja 1 & Aguahoja 2) by the Mediated Matter Group at MIT which are a series of pavilions and associated artifacts made from digitally fabricated biodegradable composites (ie. a cellulose-chitosan-pectin-calcium carbonate compound.
After use, these ‘structural skins’ can be programmed to degrade in water in a process called “environmental programming”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Prototypes at MIT Media Lab in February 2018<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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What I admire is how ‘self-sufficient’ the project is and how integrally the ‘cradle-to-cradle’ aspect of its design concept were incorporated. The lack of need for a secondary load bearing structure conventionally needed for stability and form is forgone in favour of a material with these features embedded into the molecular structure, giving an unique elegance. I also appreciate the rigor that the researches put into development of their ‘library’ of functional biopolymers, allowing them to develop an extensive range of biocomposites that can respond to different stimuli (temp \/ heat, humidity, light, etc.).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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