#biodesign

[fwftf]

Using mycelium to create a self-healing wearable leather-like material

A pair of biotechnologists at Newcastle University, working with a colleague from Northumbria University, all in the U.K., have developed a way to use mycelium to create a self-healing wearable material. In their paper published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials, Elise Elsacker, Martyn Dade-Robertson and Meng Zhang, describe their process and how well it worked when tested. Mycelium is…

[intersection-of-art-and-science]

Computational design on the Biorock Pavilion:

Excerpt from Dezeen article:

The Biorock Pavilion is a concept for an amphitheatre-like event space that could be grown underwater. The form of the building is based on that of a seashell, as well as mathematical forms.

The basis of the pavilion would be a skeletal structure comprised of a network of very thin steel rods, which would be immersed in a solution of minerals.

It would be grown by electrodeposition of minerals

An electric current would then be run through the steel skeleton, allowing the remainder of the pavilion to be 'grown' as the minerals calcify atop the base structure.

"It takes those minerals out of the seawater and produces a structure similar to reinforced concrete," stated Pawlyn. "This uses an absolute minimum of material to grow a whole building."

[anitosoul]

feverfew

(via Tanacetum parthenium - Wikipedia)

[annazimmercapstone]

Prototyping, v1.2 - BIOPLASTICS

This week I made my own bioplastics. This feels a tad bit out of left field, but it naturally came up as I was looking into material resources and alternative means of power/collection/building.

I wanted to identify a "central artifact" with which to ground my worldbuilding around and eventually settled on something like fermentation, specifically with fungi. This led me to fungal alternatives for commonplace stuff today, like plastics, electrical networks, and even sites of memory. There'll be more on that next week, but for now, I just wanted to make my own bioplastics that could be the base for some other artifacts or structures for my capstone/worldbuilding. I swear everything will come full circle.

RESEARCH & PROTOTYPING

Topic: bioplastics (technically done the week before, but for continuity sake, it's here)

Materials: Agar Agar flakes, water, glycerin, cornstarch, vinegar, acrylic panel, heat, time

The Nature Lab at RISD is doing some interesting work on using biology as the basis for design solutions. I'm especially into their idea of "Biophilia" as a basis for the cultural backing of my worldbuilding.

There's also Biodesigned, an online magazine publishing research and ideas on the topic. The research on urban planning was very insightful in understanding ecosystem alternatives.

AND! A lovely classmate lent me his book BIODESIGN. Shout out to him and the Woke Hobos gang in the math offices.

There was some great conceptual stuff in there I want to use as reference for some concept art for next week, so I focused mainly on creating bioplastics. There are some pretty great open-source resources available online, particularly "The BioPlastic Cookbook." It is what it says: a recipe book on making your own bioplastics. I wanted to use just plant products so I stuck to making the agar agar and the cornstarch bioplastics.

I wish I had some finer tools for making this, but overall for a first try I was fairly successful. You don't even really need fine tools other than a scale and a surface to dry the bioplastic on. Other than that, ya just need a good pot. The main issue with these was time, especially with the cornstarch solution drying rather slowly. Cook time was under 15 minutes for both. Other issues like flexibility, smoothness, etc. could be adjusted for. This first try I aimed for slightly above medium flexibility since I was originally planning on turning these into books, but am reconsidering since I think they'd just stick together too much. Like the leaf books, I'm interested in documenting how they decay over time and how that affects their material function.

The center square is the agar agar solution which came out very jelly-like with a slight green-yellow tinge. It solidified and was manipulatable after an hour but needed several more hours to fully dry afterward. It looks kinda nasty haha but it was cool to handle.

The cornstarch solution is on the outside shaped like an "L" and needed nearly 24 hours before it was even dry to the touch. The cornstarch was nearly completely translucent without a tint and was much easier to smooth out, probably because the agar agar one began to solidify soon after it was off the heat. Yes, these solutions look kinda suspicious I don't wanna hear nothing about it.

After making these, I'm interested in adapting my original plan of having these just be book pages and instead using them as documents that can hold information, maybe... I don't know, a leaf, or ink, or something else to denotate data/records. Or I could combine these bioplastics with textiles like burlap and use it for making speculative models/artifacts. Who knows! I might not end up using these at all but this was an enlightening experiment and completely outside of my usual shenanigans.

Look at that texture!!

I plan on using this research to further build my conceptual worldbuilding and focus of a society struggling to make an archive that is cognizant and maybe even works with the natural process of decay, which seems antithetical to the idea of archiving itself.

[stevebattle]

"Flag Leader" and "Flag Robots” by Luigi Colani (1985), Expo’85 Fuyo Robot Theater, Tsukuba, Japan. The flag robots form a robot procession in the Fuyo Robot Theater at the Science Expo in Tsukuba, 1985. The 'Flag Leader' heads the procession, holding and twirling a pair of red batons. Its body bears the logo, "Robot Fantasy 2001", the title of the show. This is closely followed by a team of 'Flag robots', each one waving its actuated flagpole to the music. All robotic performances in the "Fuyo Robot Theater" are fully automated – creating an amazing show – and they automatically return to their dugout when they've finished. “Robots are machines created by science and technology, but they can still become man's friends. The aim is to demonstrate how advanced science and technology becomes, it must always be to the benefit and enrichment of mankind. The Fuyō Robot Theater will make you think about this by introducing you to some jolly robots.” – Tomorrow's Science For the Enrichment of Mankind, Fuyō group.

[upmala]

Biodegradable mycelium urn with fir sapling, by Loop Biotech. (at Dutch Design Week 2023)

[biodesign]

[ouroborossymbiosis]

'Hair By Hood', a project as an development of an existing project, Hair Matter(s), in which designer alex marie bizet proposed human hair as a design medium (source)

[valeryrizzo]

The Gallery Show at The New School / Parsons School of Design. Shot for Biodesigned as part of the BDC Summit.

[ourlo22]

the joke (PANES I:VI)

reclaimed windows, plastic + metal pieces; burlap; nori, tapioca, casein based biopolymers; mod podge; acrylic gloss

[shirpsbiomaterialworld]

process mix cornstarch and sand and water using risd concrete recipe see past #s I mixed in gold pigment, and it got eaten up :( dried in the mold and then microwaved, it popped right out of the mold

very rock like and sound, however a little crumbly and didn't do so great in water.... holds it... just temporarily

[intersection-of-art-and-science]

“‘All the externally exposed surfaces of buildings and urban infrastructures, from blank walls and facades to roofs, retaining barriers and fences offer vast quantities of area to absorb and store water,’ [says Marcos Cruz, Professor of Innovative Environments at The Bartlett School of Architecture.] ‘Hydrophilic design allows us to take advantage of plants that will help us improve the storm-water management of facades and increase absorption of CO2, nitrogen and pollutants while emitting significant levels of oxygen.’”

[anitosoul]

(via Classic: Cordoba House / Emilio Ambasz | ArchDaily)

[materialsforfuture]

Stills from the micro-documentary ''Amber Grain Embroidery - Growing Folklore Elements'' with designer Barbara Rakovská who works with wheat and barley to grow regenerative clothing.

Our heritage is closely tied to nature and the resources it provides us with. The elaborate and complex techniques that we have developed over generations often shaped the clothing , furniture and everything else that we owned reflecting the time and energy it took to grow the very materials we owned.

DESIGNER: Barbara Rakovská

PHOTO & VIDEO: Petra Garajová

MODEL: Isabela Cotecchia

DOCUMENTARY: Nina Canova

[stevebattle]

Family Robots by Luigi Colani (1985), Expo’85 Fuyo Robot Theater, Tsukuba, Japan. “Commissioned by the NEC corporation, Colani designed robots that took the stage as human machines, acted like living beings and moved around accordingly.” Colani’s design sketches illustrate the ground-breaking biodesign of his ‘family robots’. These robots perform a play, "One Day in the Robot Village" at the ‘Fuyo Robot Theater’. There are two ‘parent’ robots having longer arms, with three ‘children’ in tow. In addition to the blue family robots shown, there is a similar red family visible in the background of the final two images above. “The Asian Buddhist philosophy of observing forms in nature is actually the wider perspective I have always preferred, onto which everything technical should be grafted. Not simply alongside each other. Form and technology belong together and this is missing in the appearances of very many of today‘s robots which are simply too technical. And also their performance, this is another important aspect which suffers from the fact that sufficient attention has not been paid to observing nature in the last 10, 15 years. It has to become part of the process again.” – Luigi Colani, ANOTHER CLOUD BREAKING NEO IMPULSE HAS TO COME, a conversation between Colani and Albrecht Bangert, April 6, 2005.