Inverse problem for fabrication: From a 3D model a deposition plan is optimized for a 3D printed plate, such that once dipped into water the plate deforms into the target shape. This is achieved by optimizing the shape of the plate and the orientation of the plastic deposition trajectories. Copyright: Thibault Tricard, Vincent Tavernier, David Jourdan, Cédric Zanni, Jonàs Martínez, Pierre-Alexandre Hugron, Fabrice Neyret, Camille Schreck, Sylvain Lefebvre
Morphing Structural Materials – From Biology to Physics to Architecture
Advanced Course at International Centre for Mechanical Sciences in Udine, September 2025 – Register Now!
Material Form Function | Biodesign | Prototype / Model | Teaching Matter is rarely completely static: often matter can morph. This is true for all living systems that grow, adapt, and change shape. Indeed, cells divide, leaves and fungi grow, octopuses transform, and wings reshape to control flight. But it is also true that bread rises and that pasta swells. While morphing is omnipresent in the living, it is not confined to it. Harnessing morphing capacities has many potential applications, from machines and robots to architecture. The goal of this course with lectures by MoA members Peter Fratzl and Karola Dierichs, is to review the current and fast-growing knowledge about structural materials that change shape or develop spontaneous internal stresses that improve their properties.
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MAKING Material Move with Heidi Jalkh. Copyright: Matters of Activity (with a special thanks to Max Planck Gesellschaft for the ice plant footage)
MAKING Material Move
The New Episode with Heidi Jalkh Explores Auxetic Materials
Material Form Function | MAKING_ | Science Communication | Biodesign | Master Open Design | Prototype / Model Just a single drop of water and the ice plants’ leaves spring to life! No muscles, no motors. What's the secret? It’s all in the plant’s structure. Researchers like Heidi Jalkh are diving deep into how plants move to design smarter materials for the future. From everyday stuff like EVA foam, she creates bioinspired, so-called auxetic materials that can even lift rocks. »My aim was to make it be alive«, Heidi says. Unlocking nature’s magic recipe book to motion could change the way we build, create, and design.
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Copyright: TUM, Institute for Advanced Studies
Agentive Matter(s)
Karola Dierichs Contributes to Workshop at TU München
Material Form Function | Weaving | Computational Design | Prototype / Model Advanced digital technologies and research in architectural materials and construction processes are transforming work and life towards digitalisation and sustainability. These developments present opportunities to reduce environmental impacts and address long-standing labour inequalities, social injustices, and gender imbalances in the field. This workshop at TU München aims to explore how social discourses and knowledge cultures shape and are shaped by new technologies, and will serve as the basis for the development of an educational format that asks what social actions the history of technological artifacts produces today and how we can shape them to achieve sustainable results. We are happy to share that MoA Professor Karola Dierichs will contribute to this project with her research on »Cultures of Creation: Minimal Machines«.
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Article Stretching Materialities
Adopting the Perspective of Things
Open Access Peer-Reviewed Article Published on the »Stretching Materialities« Exhibition's Process
Object Space Agency | Air | Biodesign | Cloud | Graphic Anthropology | Haptics | Hemp | Prototype / Model | Stone | Stretching Materialities | XR »TATour« is the title of a virtual exhibition based on preliminary fieldwork we conducted in 2020 at the Tieranatomisches Theater in Berlin (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin). This collaborative inquiry served as a preamble to creating a physical exhibition in a museum space based in a former veterinary anatomical theater (Stretching Materialities, 2021-2022). Constrained by the COVID crisis, we invested our efforts in creating a digital tour that focused on the visible and invisible activities that remained there even when visitors could no longer access them. This recent paper by exhibition curators Maxime Le Calvé, Natalija Miodragović, Nina Samuel, Felix Sattler, Christian Stein, and Clemens Winkler, published in
ethnographiques.org, issue 47, presents the production process for this immersive work, describes the creative process underlying this immersive work and its unusual approach to doing fieldwork through 360° fabulations inside an exhibition space, using sketching as a primary method.
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»Kiki Prototype«. Design: Rasa Weber, rasaweber.com. PhD Project: «SymbiOcean». Location: STARESO - Calvi (FR). Diver: Noémie Chabrier. Installation team, assistance and monitoring: Arnaud Boulenger, Sandra Bracun, Noemi Chabrier, Mélodie Chapat, Sylvain Coudray, Stéphane Jamme, Leonie John, Teal Jordan, Michael Karle, Mathieu Kelhetter (design intern), Michaela Roger, Bram van der Schoot, Kelly Stiver, Anja Wegner, Lena Wesenberg, Aubin Woehrel. Date: June 2023. SNF research project: «Interfacing the Ocean». Hosting University: Zurich University of the Arts & University of Art and Design Linz. Photo: Stéphane Jamme @stepp_aquanaute.
The Whispering World: Words by a Silent Sea
Exhibition by Rasa Weber Opens at Berlin Science Week
Material Form Function | Biodesign | More-Than-Human | Ocean | Prototype / Model | Temporality We're delighted that MoA associated member Rasa Weber will be part of the Blue Talk: »Science and Design for Marine Ecosystem Restoration« at this year's Berlin Science Week. The event is part of the preparation for the Third United Nations Ocean Conference jointly organized by France and Costa Rica (June 2025 - Nice, France) and takes place at the French Embassy in Berlin. The panel discussion will be followed by the official opening of the exhibition »The Whispering World: Words by a Silent Sea«,
showcasing Rasa's work in developing a prototype of an artificial reef that provides a substrate and structure for pioneer organisms to form a habitat.
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Samples from the CONQ project, 2024. Copyright: Angie Dub and Heidi Jalkh
In a Seashell
Workshop with Angie Dub and Heidi Jalkh at Berlin Science Week 2024 Fully Booked - Save Your Last Spot on the Waiting List!
Material Form Function | Biodesign | Ocean | Science Communication | Prototype / Model We're thrilled to share that we will contribute to this year's Berlin Science Week with a workshop about connecting marine-based industries and construction for more sustainable architecture. Each year, over 10 million tonnes of shells—mostly from oysters, clams, scallops, and mussels—are discarded as waste despite their high calcium carbonate content. How could we make better use of the potential of these ingenious materials? Let’s explore this together! With inputs from MoA member Christiane Sauer, Kika Brockstedt from the material data platform revalu, and many more.
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Metempyschosis
Dimitra Almpani-Lekka, Natalija Miodragović, and Emma Sicher are Part of Talk Series on Mycelium
Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Fungi/Mycelium | Biofilm | Prototype / Model | Science Communication The exhibition and talks aim at celebrating the intersection of art, design, science, and ecology, and at exploring how the process of mycofabrication – using fungi as a tool for manufacturing – and multispecies design can reshape our perceptions, inspire new ways of thinking and reconnect us to the environment. Metempsychosis, the idea of mind transmigration, serves as a metaphor for the transformative journey of creating with living mycelium, which not only serves as a medium but actively participates in the creative process. Cluster members Dimitra Almpani-Lekka, Natalija Miodragović, and Emma Sicher will contribute to the talk series on November 2nd from 5 pm in Berlin-Mitte.
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Announcement Material Show, Kyiv Chamber of Architects, September 2024.
HOPE HOME - НАДІЯ
Cluster Members Contribute to Material Show at the Kyiv Chamber of Architects
Object Space Agency | Fungi/Mycelium | Prototype / Model From September 25-29th, the Kyiv Chamber of Architects will host an interdisciplinary event focusing on sustainable reconstruction and renewable materials in Ukraine. The central part of this event will be a Material Show, showcasing innovative renewable, hybrid, and recycled building materials that could reshape the future of construction. Experts from art, science, business, and architecture will come together in workshops, discussions, and live demonstrations, exploring the potential of these materials to rebuild communities. Prototypes and samples from several Cluster members will be part of the exhibition.
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Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemyer-Cürten mit der Barksphere am Strausberger Platz, Kampagne »Das offene Wissenslabor«, 2024. Copyright: Berlin University Alliance
Welche Materialien und Ressourcen wollen wir in Zukunft verwenden?
Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten über das Bark Project
Material Form Function | Biodesign | Prototype / Model | Science Communication | Tree Bark Fasern, Samenkapseln, Pflanzenstängel oder Seidengespinste – in der Natur gibt es jede Menge unterschiedlicher Materialien, die außergewöhnlichen mechanische Eigenschaften haben und sich an wechselnde Umweltbedingungen anpassen können. Wie funktionieren diese biogenen Materialien und könnten sie möglicherweise Inspirations- und Rohstoffquelle für Architektur, Design oder Produktentwicklung sein? In einem Interview, das Teil der neuen Kampagne der Berlin University Alliana »Das offene Wissenslabor« ist, geben Cluster-Mitglieder Charlett Wenig und Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten Einblicke in die Arbeit der Forschungsgruppe »Adaptive Fibrous Materials« und insbesondere über ihre Forschung zu Baumrinde.
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Syntopia 1—Soma I Body, Minimal Machines by Matters of Activity. Copyright: Sebastián Plaza Kutzbach
Call for Papers: Minimal Machines
Cultures of Mixed Reality for Architectural and Construction Robotics
Material Form Function | Weaving | Publications | Artificial Intelligence | Robotics | Computational Design | Prototype / Model Minimal machines are understood as experimental approaches to kinetic processes in an age of robotics, where both hardware and software are reduced to their essential minimum. Cluster members Karola Dierichs and Karin Krauthausen together with Glenda Caldwell (Queensland University of Technology, Australia) and Dagmar Reinhardt (University of Sydney, Australia) aim to edit a Topical Collection reflecting on the rapidly emerging field of Mixed Reality (MR) in architecture, considering not only its technological aspects but also its cultural and human-centered implications. They invite contributions from the fields of Computational Design and Construction as well as the Humanities.
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Folgenbild Syntopische Architekturen, 2024. Käferbefallenes Fichtenholz, Foto: Pelin Asa, MPIKG, adaptiert von MoA.
Syntopische Architekturen
Neue Podcast-Folge der Serie »Exzellent Erklärt« mit Karola Dierichs und Robert Stock
Material Form Function | Weaving | Forest | Prototype / Model | More-Than-Human | Tree Bark | Yarns/Fibers | Science Communication In Folge 48 der Podcastserie »Exzellent Erklärt« erwartet die Zuhörer:innen ein inspirierender Austausch zu der Frage, wie die Materialien, die in der direkten Umgebung und ihren Kreisläufen vorkommen, das Bauen der Zukunft mitgestalten können. Journalistin Larissa Vassilian hat mit Cluster-Mitgliedern Karola Dierichs und Robert Stock über ihr Projekt »Syntopic Architectures« gesprochen, das darauf abzielt, natürliche Strukturen in die Architektur zu integrieren, die in Verbindung zu dem Ort stehen, an dem gebaut wird. Ein Beispiel dafür ist das Arbeiten mit Käferholz, also mit Holz, das vom Borkenkäfer befallen wurde.
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Bi-Leaf - Morphology of a Movement, Antonia Dönitz, Master Thesis Textile and Material Design, 2024. Image Copyright: Antonia Dönitz / weißensee school of art and design
Open House 2024 at Weißensee School of Art and Design
Student Projects On View in Collaboration with »Matters of Activity«
Weaving | Filtering | Achievements | MoA Design Research Studio | Prototype / Model | Sand | Teaching | Textiles | Yarns/Fibers | Water On July 20th and 21st, 2024, 12.00–8.00 pm, weißensee school of art and design berlin will open its studios for the traditional Open House. Also this year, there will be the opportunity to learn more about the design research projects and students’ works developed during the previous year, some of them in cooperation with or in classes led by researchers of the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«.
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Skylab Food Tray, December 30, 1971. Copyright: NASA S72-15409
Floating Food / Creating Knowledge
Alwin J. Cubasch's Article About NASA Food Testing Online Now
Filtering | Prototype / Model To survive in space, people also have to eat in space. In preparation for the first American space station Skylab, NASA food experts tested food systems on parabolic flights. Cluster member Alwin Cubasch has delved into the NASA archive material from the early 1970's and applied concepts from the history of science to the fields of historical food science and the history of nutritional science. His findings can now be read in an article on the »History of Knowledge« blog of the German Historical Institute in Washington, DC.
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Project PERISKOP. Copyright: Digital Surgery Lab, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin
Researchers from Matters of Activity Awarded the Max Rubner Prize 2024
Interdisciplinary Teams Want to Empower Patients Through VR Experiences and Robotics
Cutting | Material Form Function | Achievements | Prototype / Model | XR On April 22nd, 2024 the Charité Foundation awarded the Max Rubner Award 2024 to four members of »Matters of Activity«, Zeynep Akbal, Moritz Queisner, Igor Sauer, and Claudia Müller-Birn, among others. Our warmest congratulations on this prestigious award!
The researchers and their colleagues from the Digital Surgery Lab at Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin want to use the award money to advance the PERISKOP project, which focuses on reducing preoperative anxiety and uncertainties of patients in the operating theater environment. The »Communication Robot in the Emergency Department« project, in which Claudia Müller-Birn (FU Berlin) is involved, aims to improve communication and check-in processes for patients in the emergency department.
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Key Visual, MoA Design Research Studio, 2024. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Shaping Water
MoA Design Research Studio at weißensee school of art and design Enters New Round
Filtering | Teaching | Water | Prototype / Model In the »Shaping Water« project, starting in the summer semester of 2024, Prof. Carola Zwick, design researcher Dominic Eger Domingos, and design students want to examine and challenge civilizational standards, usage patterns, and experiences to rethink the medium of water and how we experience it. Through this exploration, we aspire to develop new interaction concepts and product ideas, brought to life in prototypes and exhibits that resonate with users on a tangible level. The project is part of the Design Research Studio within the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity« (Filtering) and is constantly supported by eLAB (Laboratory for Interactive Technologies of KHB) throughout the project starting with a hands-on workshop delving into physical computing as expression of design.
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Thermography shows the effect of shading and the influence of solar radiation on surface temperatures. Copyright: Maxie Schneider
Materialzukünfte besuchen: Smartes Material für überhitzte Städte
Workshop Series at Futurium
Climate | Cellulose | Biofilm | Collactive Materials | Science Communication | Prototype / Model | Speculative Design | Yarns/Fibers Gestaltet das Futurium Lab selbst mit! In der öffentlichen Workshopreihe »OPEN LAB ABEND: Materialzukünfte besuchen« spekulierten Teilnehmende darüber, aus welchen Materialien die Welt von morgen gemacht sein könnte. Die Workshopreihe umfasste 4 Termine und fand von März bis Juni im Futurium statt. Forschende von »Matters of Activity« (MoA) gaben Einblick in ihre Arbeit. Davon ausgehend entwickelten Teinehmende Zukunftsszenarien und gestalteten Prototypen, die im Anschluss zusammen mit Objekten aus der MoA-Forschung im Lab ausgestellt wurden. Begleitet wurden Teilnehmende dabei vom spekulationserfahrenen Team von »CollActive Materials«.
It’s getting hot in here... In diesem ersten Workshop ging es darum, wie wir mit smarten Materialien die Städte der Zukunft gestalten können. Im Sommer machen steigende Temperaturen, Metall und Beton das Leben in der Innenstadt für alle Bewohnenden immer mehr zur Herausforderung. Welche Materialien schaffen Abhilfe in überhitzten Städten?
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Syntopia 0 – Anthropos I Human. Copyright: Roland Halbe
Syntopia 0 — Anthropos I Human
Karola Dierichs' Project Contributes to Exhibition and Symposium »Being Plastic/Becoming Plastic« at the University of Virginia
Material Form Function | Weaving | Object Space Agency | Waste | Temporality | Prototype / Model In March 2024, Karola Dierichs exhibited the project »Syntopia 0—Anthropos I Human« as part of the exhibition and symposium »Being Plastic/ Becoming Plastic« at the University of Virginia, US, under the direction of Ehsan Baharlou. Initially conducted under the title »ICD Aggregate Pavilion 2018«
, the project explores the construction of spatial enclosures made from designed granular materials. Yet one might now call this project »Syntopia 0—Anthropos I Human«
in the present discourse on human-made plastic residue. This considers the research not only as an example of materials design and construction robotics but also as a monument of anthropogenic mass superseding living biomass around 2020, given it was made of injection-molding plastic waste from the local Stuttgart car industry.
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Exhibition view »Closer to Nature. Building with Mushroom, Tree, Clay«, Berlinische Galerie. Copyright: Photo: Harry Schnitger
Closer to Nature
Experimental Building by SciArt Collective MY-CO-X on Show at Berlinische Galerie
Object Space Agency | Fungi/Mycelium | Biodesign | More-Than-Human | Prototype / Model | Textiles | Temporality Architecture and nature inevitably compete for space. That poses a dilemma when resources are finite and the demand for space keeps growing. Besides, we know that the construction sector generates huge waste and emissions. All this has raised issues about the role of architecture: Does it need a shift in perspective? Could we build with nature instead of against it? The exhibition »Closer to Nature« at the Berlinische Galerie showcases three Berlin-based projects, that utilize the potential of mushrooms, living trees, and clay. This gives them an ecological quality, but also a completely new character: the buildings breathe, grow, and thus become alive themselves. One of the showcased projects is the experimental building MY-CO SPACE, which was developed, designed, and built by the interdisciplinary Berlin SciArt collective MY-CO-X, an initiative of the Department of Applied and Molecular Microbiology at TU Berlin under the direction of MoA member Vera Meyer with contributions by Dimitra Almpani-Lekka.
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MoA Design Research Studio »DeLIGHTful«, 2023/2024. Copyright: weißensee school of art and design berlin
deLIGHTful Interactions | eLab Studio Project
Final Presentations of MoA Design Studio at Weißensee School of Art and Design
Filtering | MoA Design Research Studio | Teaching | Prototype / Model On February 14th, 2024 the MoA Design Research studio project »deLIGHTful interactions« held its final presentation at Flughalle 4th floor, weißensee school of art and design berlin. Using the example of light, project contributors led by MoA member Carola Zwick explored how civilizational practices and rituals evolve when technological conditions change. Light offers itself as an exciting and, above all, highly accessible topic to illuminate this field of tension in an exemplary way. For »deLIGHTful interactions«, students worked with light as an active material, demonstration the wide range of technological possibilities at our disposal to develop meaningful and enjoyable interactions.
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GOLD Textiles from collagen. Image: Denny Sachtleben WINT Design Lab
Felix Rasehorn Awarded for the Project »GOLD Bio-Textiles for Sustainability«
Ecodesign Award 2023
Prototype / Model | Science Communication | Achievements We warmly congratulate Cluster Member Felix Rasehorn: His design and research lab WINT
won the eco-design award 2023 in the category concept for the collaborative research project »GOLD Bio-textiles for sustainability«. As part of a research initiative, the GOLD project investigated goldbeater’s skin, a type of tissue found in cow gut. This elastic membrane was characterized biochemically to develop a recyclable, bio-based and vegan high-performance textile.
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Prototyping Anholonomy. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Prototyping Anholonomy
Internal Workshop on 27–29 September
Filtering | Prototype / Model Do we move, interact and design in precisely three spatial dimensions and time? And are these sufficient for describing our interactions within the world? In this workshop, we will explore and prototype research from the Cluster of Excellence »Matters of Activity«, which proposes that anholonomy of spatial and temporal geometries imbue complex systems with activity.
In other words, complex systems may exist with or without complex anholonomies from their complex temporal geometry. Designing prototypes and use-case demonstrators of such complex temporal geometries which provoke anholonomies, is key towards their communication and understanding.
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Unsteady Matter – Investigating Water-Based Design Pathways and 3D Printing Techniques for Hydrogel Composites. Copyright: Tairan (Aurora) Li, Daniel Suárez, Dr. Bastian Beyer
Unsteady Matter
Investigating Water-Based Design Pathways and 3D Printing Techniques for Hydrogel Composites
Weaving | Water | Prototype / Model Architectural design conventionally operates within or creates seemingly static and permanent conditions. The two-week project developed by Tairan Li (MoA Young International Fellow 2022) and Daniel Suárez, led by Bastian Beyer, in the context of the project »Weaving« aimed to interrogate these conditions through a series of experiments with hydrogels. This group of materials mainly consists of water held together by three-dimensional polymer chains. Compared to inert materials, hydrogels are in constant dynamic exchange with their surrounding environment. Their water content can vary according to external conditions. They shrink substantially when dried and expand in humid environments and, therefore can be understood as latent buffer materials with ever-changing properties. Furthermore, this volume change can induce strong forces which lead to curling or buckling of the material during the drying process.
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Driving the Human Book Launch at Matters of Activity, 10 May 2023. Copyright: Camille Blake / Driving the Human
Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal
Book Launch with Hand-On-Workshops, Guided Tours, a Talk, and Debates at Matters of Activity
Weaving | Filtering | Cutting | Material Form Function | Object Space Agency | Symbolic Material | Prototype / Model | Science Communication On May 10th, the three-year initiative »Driving the Human: Seven Prototypes for Eco-social Renewal« celebrated the Berlin launch of the final publication with »Matters of Activity« at Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. From 3.30 pm, the Cluster opened the doors to its premises in Sophienstraße 22a and invited interested guests to workshops and guided tours, a talk, and lively debates reflecting on the three-year process of »Driving the Human«. Partners, experts, and project authors were on hand to discuss with guests the relationship between research, design and art. On this occasion, many cluster members also provided insights into their research work at »Matters of Activity«.
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LEFT: DAOULA | sheen. West African Wild Silk on Its Way. Exhibition View in the Tieranatomisches Theater, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, 2022. Copyright: Karola Dierichs | MoA; RIGHT: MoA Research Prototype 1 | Minimal Machines. Construction Process. Copyright: Sebastián Plaza Kutzbach | khb
Weaving with the Data Glove - From the Cocoon into the Computer and Back Again
Live-Demonstration and Press Tour in the Exhibition »DAOULA | sheen«
Weaving | Daoula Sheen | Prototype / Model | Science Communication We hereby cordially invite you to a press event in the exhibition »DAOULA | sheen – West African Wild Silk on its Way«. The press event will take place on February 16th, 3.00 pm at the Tieranatomisches Theater and will be accompanied by a live demonstration of the project »MoA Research Prototype 1 | Minimal Machines« with a subsequent discussion of the work. The demonstration involves live work on an architectural structure inspired by the geometric principles of silk cocoons. The researchers are present and give an insight into the materials used as well as the analogue and digital tools.
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Poster Talk Karin Krauthausen 2022. Copyright: ETH Zürich
Modell Hütte
Karin Krauthausen holds Lecture at the ETH Zürich
Weaving | Prototype / Model As part of the semester program »Ticino Tempesta – Second Modernism« at the Chair of Architecture and Design at ETH Zurich, MoA member Karin Krauthausen will give a guest lecture on invitation of Prof. Dr. Elli Mosayebi. The lecture on the »Modell Hütte« will take place on Wednesday, September 28th, 2022, and will refer to the results of Krauthausen's many years of research, which were published late last year in the publication of the same name.
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Thread model by Hermann Wiener of a cone of third order and genus 0. Copyright: Collection of Mathematical Models and Instruments at Georg-August-University Göttingen, all rights reserved
Model and Mathematics
Open Access Volume by Editors Michael Friedman and Karin Krauthausen Published Now
Prototype / Model The open access book »Model and Mathematics: From the 19th to the 21st Century«, published in August 2022, collects the historical and medial perspectives of a systematic and epistemological analysis of the complicated, multifaceted relationship between model and mathematics. Contributions and expert interviews range from, for example, the physical mathematical models of the 19th century to the simulation and digital modeling of the 21st century. The aim of this anthology, edited by MoA members Michael Friedman and Karin Krauthausen, is to showcase the status of the mathematical model between abstraction and realization, presentation and representation, what is modeled and what models.
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Poster Online Lecture Series »Talking Matters«, Copyright: Cécile Bidan and Salif Sawadogo, adapted by NODE Berlin
Computational Material Culture in Architecture
Lecture Series Continues with a Talk by Achim Menges
Material Form Function | Prototype / Model | Computational Design We were very happy to continue our »Talking Matters« lecture series with a summer edition on July 12th as on-site event in the Sophienstraße 22a in Berlin-Mitte. Our guest Achim Menges, architect and professor for architecture at the University of Stuttgart and director of the Cluster of Excellence »Integrative Computational Design and Construction for Architecture«, was giving inspiring insights into and discussions about »Computational Material Culture in Architecture«.
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The Pergola at Rundgang Weißensee School of Art and Design Berlin. Copyright: Maxie Schneider/ Matters of Activity
FriBriX @ Structural Paper Workshop
MoA Members Maxie Schneider, Jojo Shone and Lorenzo Guiducci Contributed to Bauwende Festival 2022
Material Form Function | Prototype / Model | Tangling On May 27th, the FriBriX team (Lorenzo Guiducci, Christiane Sauer, Maxie Schneider, Jojo Shone) organised the Structural Paper workshop @ Bauwende Festival. Here participants have explored playfully the potential of paper as building material for constructing interwoven structures, simply holding together through friction. We understand paper as a contemporary urban resource and use waste paper to design a bottom up building process. Aftre two intense days of collective work a large pergola has been erected. The structure can still be freely visited at the premises of the Atelier Gardens, BUFA.
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Cover »Modell Hütte«. Copyright: diaphanes Verlag
Anthology »Modell Hütte« Published
Contributions from the Natural Sciences, Humanities, and Design Approach the Hut as a Model
Weaving | Symbolic Material | Prototype / Model | Publications At the end of December 2021, the anthology »Modell Hütte. Von emergenten Strukturen, schützender Haut und gebauter Umwelt« (translated: »Model Hut. Of emergent structures, protective skin and built environment«) was published by diaphanes Verlag. In it, the editors, MoA member Karin Krauthausen and Rebecca Ladewig, bring together multidisciplinary contributions that approach the hut as a model in many different ways. The German volume goes back to two conferences on the »Typology of the Hut« (in 2016 and 2017) of the Cluster of Excellence »Image Knowledge Gestaltung«, but was also expanded afterwards with additional contributions.
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Poster Workshop »Material as Environmental Device«. Copyright: Kristina Pfeifer »detail woven skin of Kurdish black tent« & Cécile Bidan »detail of bacterial cellulose biofilm«
Material as Environmental Device
A Zoom Workshop on 10 September 2020
Weaving | Material Form Function | Bacteria | Biofilm | Cellulose | Climate | Prototype / Model | Yarns/Fibers The workshop »Material as Environmental Device« on September 10th, 2020 gathers researchers and practitioners from the fields of architecture, ecological anthropology and the natural sciences to discuss the status of the material as an active element of environmental design on the basis of past and contemporary buildings and current research in the Cluster »Matters of Activity«. Three thematic sessions – »Materials and Environments«, »Essential Material« and »Active Skins« – focus on different aspects of material activity, addressing design and production techniques, ecological and cultural implications and the prospects of climate-responsive architectures.
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Open Space Event, 9 November 2023. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Activarium
MoA's Showroom and Workspace | Currently on Winter Break
Science Communication | Air | Sand | Bacteria | Cellulose | Cloud | Fungi/Mycelium | Hemp | Prototype / Model | Stretching Materialities | Material Legacies | Daoula Sheen | Textiles | Tree Bark | Yarns/Fibers | XR | Willow | Wool | Water | Wood With the »Activarium«, we want to actively engage with potential partners from the industry, start-ups, NGOs, politics and society as a whole to initiate an exploratory exchange on active materials, bio- & culture-inspired innovation as well as sustainability approaches. We want visitors to experience our prototypes to make MoA’s intentions and research tangible and accessible. The »Activarium« serves as a work-in-progress showcase of different research strands and processes. Our visitors can dive into the research as it's happening before its published results.
Walk in and experience the »Activarium« Thursdays, 2.00 pm – 4.00 pm! If you are a group of more than 5 people or if the opening hours do not fit your schedule, please contact us via
moa.activarium [at] hu-berlin.de!
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Willow installation of the »Structural Textile Project« by Natalija Miodragović, Nelli Singer and Daniel Suárez at the exhibition »Stretching Materialities«. Copyright: Matters of Activity
Plektonik: Structural Textiles
Willow | Prototype / Model | Yarns/Fibers | Tangling »Plektonik« is a transdisciplinary project between architects, textile designers, microbiologists, and material scientists, analyzing and prototyping loop-based material systems made from continuous and formable hybrid yarns.
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CONQ samples. Copyright: Heidi Jalkh and Angie Dub
CONQ
Marine Biobased Materials for the Built Environment
Biodesign | Ocean | Circular Economies | Prototype / Model Environmental architect Angie Dub and experimental designer Heidi Jalkh, based in Buenos Aires, are finding ways to turn sea shell waste into a sustainable material for the built environment. By combining crushed seashells with algae-based biopolymers, they create a heat-free bioceramic made entirely from marine biomass. In the current phase, material samples are undergoing testing to determine their physical properties and characteristics. These evaluations will inform and guide the exploration of possible implementation scenarios for the material in various applications.
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