Structured Doctoral Program
»Matters of Activity«

Dimitra Almpani-Lekka (Architecture // »Material Form Function« & »Object Space Agency«)

Water-driven Membranes. Methods of Activating the Building Envelope for More-Than-Human Commoning

The aim of Dimitra’s research is to investigate emerging architectural design protocols of activating the building envelope with the treatment of water in order to restore and promote ecosystemic functions and local biodiversity. In this framework the building envelope is approached as a voluminous, programmatic and infrastructural space of opportunity for integrating the building into the metabolic processes of the ecosystem. The envelope is explored as a porous membrane rather than a barrier, a vehicle for mutually beneficial human and non-human symbiosis that allows for material and energy negotiations and exchanges between the outside and the inside. Therefore, the envelope is re-thought as a potential space of communing for all local species. The actuator of the envelope is water, one of the most vital resources for the sustenance of ecosystemic activity. This approach requires the study of water related functions, properties and phenomena across different scales (macro- (urban fabric), meso- (building/device), micro-(study of microorganisms and properties of matter). With the use of dynamic design tools, the architectural design is formed by the dynamics and temporalities of water. Alliances between the fields of biotechnology, natural sciences and environmental engineering as well as humanities, landscape architecture, animal aided design and biomimetics are employed to incorporate biological growth and water treatment methods in an architectural design method that addresses the topic of co-habitation in contemporary cities, especially in the context of pressing climate related problems such as droughts, floods and the contamination of natural water resources.

Supervision: Claudia Mareis (Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin), Sven Pfeiffer (Hochschule Bochum), Yannis Zavoleas (University of Ioannina)

Pelin Asa (Architecture // »Material Form Function«)

Building with Insect-damaged Timber: Reversible Components from Low-grade Wood

Pelins PhD project examines spruce trees infected by bark beetles and fungi to develop load-bearing applications with infested wood. Since 2018, forests in Germany have been hit by a growing rate of insect damage. While with this increase there are more studies on the impact of bark beetles on the trees, research and applications on beetle-kill wood use are scarce. In the infected localities, despite its increasing quantity and strain on timber resources, damaged wood is mostly burned or used for low-value applications. This research analyzes bark beetle-infested spruce wood from Feldbuch, Bavaria, to compare its properties to non-infested wood and to study its potential for higher value uses. A computational model is developed to connect material characterization data with design geometry and to determine elements that can be obtained from infested logs and allow for load-bearing applications. Modular building units are joined with reversible connections and can be used for materially-optimized and reversible components to promote the reuse of the material. This study aims to contribute to the understanding of infested wood and its potential uses, and thus to local forestry industries and economies.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Karola Dierichs (MoA, MPI, khb)

Frank Bauer (Architecture // »Symbolic Material«)

›Disegno‹ in ›Digital Chains‹, or: on the ›Operative Ontologies‹ of Computational Art Production

In his ongoing dissertation, Frank Bauer inquires methods, ontologies and practices of computational design and manufacturing. Assuming that a critical revision to transdisciplinary dependencies of CAD/CAM largely remains in its infancy, this proposal asks how conceptually, materially and aesthetically complex perspectives may emerge if one moves beyond notions of control and optimization. Consciously choosing computational fine arts production as a rather peripheral catalyst to the discourse, it inquires into the ontological and symbolic basis of its imaging, modeling and fabrication practices. It follows an interest into the translation of drawing to making in its instrumental, material, and operational conditions. By engineering and embedding experimental workflows, this may not only reveal how manifold symbolic and notational logics of making are building new notions of materiality, but also expose material and image activity between manufacturing data sets and physical prototypes – probing in as to how far increasingly distributed, human and non-human agencies along the so-called digital chain maybe much rather put disegno in chains, as it were. How may we re-formulate computational workflows along interferences of analogue and digital practices? And will new attention for the authorial dimension of such mediations eventually shift discourses on digital technologies from possibility to constraint space?

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Nobert Palz (UdK)

Johanna Hehemeyer-Cürten (Fashion & Textile Design // »Material Form Function«)

Revaluating Tree Bark

›Revaluating Tree Bark‹ is a practice-based research project that aims to increase the value of pine bark. By studying the material properties and translating material scientific findings into artistic experimentation, sustainable design and application scenarios will be developed. As a byproduct of the wood industry, large quantities of bark are burned, causing high CO2 emissions. Considering the current ecological crisis and the growing demand for renewable materials, a multi-stage, sustainable use and the development of high-quality bark products seems desirable. The research project focuses on techniques and concepts of folding and weaving that are studied in a combination of basic research and design. This includes analysis of the chemical and structural composition of pine bark as well as investigations on material processing and form finding. Prototypes that reconcile the material life-span with the use-phase of the object will be developed and evaluated.

Supervision: Dr. Michaela Eder (MPI), Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Peter Fratzl (MPI)

Rahel Kesselring (Cultural History and Theory & Scenography // »Material Form Function«)

›One big green thought‹: Concepts of sentience in artistic representations of trees and forests

In her dissertation, Rahel investigates concepts of ›sentience‹ in artistic settings, which have plants, trees, and forests as their object. By examining various case studies from the field of contemporary art, the project aims to discuss arboreal politics, their medial modes of representation, and the epistemologies brought together in them.

Against the background of current discourses in Posthumanism, New Materialism and Plant Studies, which investigate plant ›agency‹ and plant-human entanglements, Rahel on the one hand aims to analyze the concepts of relationality between humans and the environment, which are inherent in the case studies. On the other hand, her PhD project focuses on the different epistemic arrangements of artistic and scientific explorations of sentience in plants and which conclusions these works allow for the respective knowledge systems.

Supervision: Robert Stock (Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin)

Yoonha Kim (Anthropology & Fashion Design // »Object Space Agency«)

Wearing Worlds

The broad aim of this research is challenging market leading monoculture through techno-diversity, suggesting a way for all beings to mingle together on this planet. I believe that relational ontology mediated through the Korean traditional garment, ›Hanbok‹, as an active material can provide such insight. After almost 150 years of sociotechnical and sartorial westernisation, artisans are still making traditional ›Hanbok‹ alongside designers reinterpreting the traditional dress, even digitalising ›Hanbok‹. I closely follow this re-enchantment of ›Hanbok‹ by spending time with, and becoming one of the wearers and makers of ›Hanbok‹. Through paying attention to the bodily movement ›Hanbok‹ suggests, the sound it makes, its entanglement with other objects, and even looking at the garment in nano-scale, I would like to ask: How does this wearable object affect the wearer and its surroundings? Can the reinvention of ›Hanbok‹ open doors to think about a new type of technology stemming from ancient Korean cosmology

Supervision: Sharon Macdonald (Institute of European Ethnology, HU Berlin), Claudia Mareis (Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin)

Kaja Ninnis (Art and Design History // »Material Form Function«)

(Hi)Stories of Transformation: Tracing Materials in the British Arts and Crafts Movement

The PhD project »(Hi)Stories of Transformation: Tracing Materials in the British Arts and Crafts Movement« by Kaja Ninnis investigates the environmental implications of the sourcing and transformation of ›raw‹ materials in the context of the British Arts and Crafts Movement.

Arts and Crafts objects, or rather the »stuff« from which they are made, from the starting point from which the project traces their material components from the museum, to the workshop of the Arts and Crafts maker and from there to the sites of material extraction and transformation. Tracing material histories through archival research, site visits, material analysis and engagement provides a critical understanding of the object’s relationship to different ecologies across multiple timescales. Looking at design history through the lens of materials resituates the Arts and Crafts movement in relation to Victorian material culture and the global extracitvism of the British Empire.

The project asks how researching material histories as a design historical practice may decentre and transform established linear narratives about the past, present and future. More broadly, it aims to contribute to an emerging ecocritical design history.

Supervision: Claudia Mareis (Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin)

Felix Rasehorn (Product Design // »Cutting« & »Material Form Function«)

Material Anchors

›Material Anchors‹ is a Design and practice-based research project focusing on tools and interaction concepts that investigate the idea of a collaborative sensitivity between human and machine. The domain of human extension and augmentation will be explored through hands-on workshops and the production and iteration of functional prototypes. This particular project focuses on diverse cutting tools used in scientific practices like functional biology, evolutionary morphology and neurosurgery. One scenario will be the act of surgical intervention in neurosurgery, where decisions are largely dependent on MRI Imaging before and during surgery to inform and guide the surgeon. Prototypes simulating feedback loops between human and machine will be evaluated with scientists from each specific domain. The overarching question that connects all scenarios is: How to design novel augmentative features that function collaboratively and intuitively for human and machine together?

Supervision: Prof. Jürgen Weidinger (TU Berlin), Prof. Ignacio Borrego (TU Berlin), Prof. Karola Zwick (khb), Prof. Dr. Jörg Petruschat (khb)


Jakub Rondomanski (Mathematics // »Filtering«)

In his PhD project, Jakub will work on developing a novel discrete theory of elasticity, based on applying the modern tools of discrete differential geometry to classical concepts from the physical sciences. To achieve this, he will work at the crossroads of multiple diverse fields of mathematics, physics and material science, in particular: discrete and classical differential geometry, geometry processing and visualization, partial differential equations, spectral analysis, numerics, dynamics and crystallography. Furthermore, he will work in a collaborative research group between mathematicians and experimental physicists to further the mathematical understanding of phenomena gathered under the term topological physics. Towards later phases of the project, Jakub will aim at making the objects of his research presentable towards a broader public, using both numerical visualizations and tangible objects.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Konrad Polthier (FU Berlin)

Lucas Siquera Rodrigues (Computer Science // »Cutting«)

Virtual Dissection Through Virtual Reality and Haptics

The PhD thesis aims to advance Computational Paleontology by further developing the concept and application of »Virtual Dissection« through the investigation of tangible feedback in interactive data visualizations within virtual environments. Our case study is rooted in functional vertebrate morphology and will assess the aforementioned technologies’ potential towards the attainment of knowledge into form-function relationships. We aim to improve paleontological preparation training by enhancing users’ mental models through interactive spatial data exploration and force-feedback for the differentiation of tissues in combined and cross-registered imaging datasets stemming from diverse modalities. The project’s overarching goal is the identification of general principles of feedback-informed virtual dissection within the context of Human-Computer Interaction. Subsequently, research findings might be further applicable within the contexts of computational medicine and evolutionary biology.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Habakuk Israel (HTW), Prof. Dr. John Nyakatura (Department of Biology, HU Berlin), Dr. Stefan Zachow (ZIB)


Nikolai Rosenthal (Medical Engineering // »Material Form Function« & »Weaving«)

The focus of the project is the multi-scale characterization of fiber systems and -structures in nature and their geometric-constructive and design transfer into constructions for spatial-architectural applications. The biological systems are analyzed on different structural, chemical and mechanical levels to understand how the relationship between geometry and materiality influences the properties of material systems for load-bearing or functionally active structures. Fiber structures are translated into demonstrators by numerical modeling as well as material-based prototyping. By integrating current technologies and processes of manual and industrial fiber processing, textile technology or lightweight construction novel, sustainable and efficient concepts of construction, joining and functionalization are developed and transferred into the spatial-architectural context.

Supervision: Dr. Michaela Eder (MPI), Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Peter Fratzl (MPI)

Anna Schäffner (Product Design // »Filtering«)

For a design of deformation.How and why do we elaborate robotic objects with material adaptation capacities that allow us to attribute aesthetic, operational and symbolic qualities to them by renewing the relationships of interaction and interdependence with the environment?

Based on the development of soft robotics, how to elaborate new interaction modalities of robotic objects no longer relying on a programmatic logic of giving form, but on the principle of deformation, aiming at a improved adaptation of material, movement and expression of these objects towards their environments, including humans? This thesis seeks to lay the foundations for a design of deformation. If many objects are the result of a process of deformation of their materials (folding, thermoforming, stamping, etc.), how can we think of deformation not as a result, but as a variable and dynamic process constitutive of these objects and their capacity of adaptation? How can we give to appreciate the deformation, as a process of dynamic transformation that we give to experience by paying particular attention to the way in which the act of setting objects in motion, their animation, can arouse emotions in the humans who face them?

This research project, through and for design, aims to define the conditions under which such objects can call upon deformation as means of adaptation, action as much as expression. In contrast to programmatic (planning) logics that are too dominating and not well adapted to material experimentation, the design approach implemented here should integrate other logics, other modes of thinking and acting that are closely embodied in the German word »Gestaltung«. This iterative process of giving form seems to offer new qualities of interaction between humans, objects and matter. It will further be a matter of questioning and defining it through its implementation in the specific field of deformable robotic objects. This field requires investing modes of creation through practical experimentation with active and reactive flexible materials to make the aesthetics of deformation perceptible and tangible in its plastic, symbolic and technical power. It is now a question of cooperating with the powers of matter and revealing its agency. Deformation allows the elaboration of objects (technical apparatus) that develop their own sensitivity towards the environment and the living. A way of questioning, in act, anthropocentrism by offering a power of action to objects, through deformation. Key words : Soft robotic, Deformation, Behavioral objects, Compliance, Agency, Dynamic process

Supervision: Samuel Bianchini (EnsAD), Carola Zwick (khb)

Maxie Schneider (Architecture // »Material Form Function«)

Polymorph Textility

»Polymorph Textility« explores material programming and shape behaviour in response to external climatic stimuli in a practice-based research project. It is relevant since physical and computational experimentation with inherent material capabilities may renovate predominant limitations of building culture towards more integrated, adaptive and sustainable strategies. Its aim is to devise a multi-scalar design method for self-forming textiles with shape memory alloys as a thermally active control component. With the development of a computer-aided design-to-fabrication framework the synthesis of such actuated hybrid membranes with dynamic elasticity and compliant bending and buckling morphologies can be introduced. Under the supervision of Prof. Christiane Sauer and within the research consortium “Adaptex”, performative and sensory qualities of the systems are proposed and validated through physical implementation in solar shading components.

Supervision: Prof. Ignacio Borrego (TU Berlin), Prof. Christiane Sauer (khb)


Emma Sicher (Experimental Design // »Weaving«)

Biofilms like bacterial cellulose (BC) are strategically produced by microbial cultures to resiliently cope with adverse conditions. These fiber-based matrixes have a variety of valuable properties ranging from nutritional potential to material versatility and highly adaptable (g)local production still highly underexplored. This Ph.D. research is based on know-how developed over years of R&D and identified opportunity gaps. The central aim is to develop the concept of ‘multispecies matter’ (MM) and translate it into flows of regenerative production and consumption that nourish planetary metabolisms. By investigating bacterial biofilms from metaphorical and scientific perspectives, material and food design methods, microbiology, and cultural anthropology come together generating scenarios and prototypes that emphasize the urge for perishable material culture. Through interdisciplinary practice-based research, a variety of processes will be developed focusing on enhancing BC properties, and material, and production possibilities speculating promising implementations in existing and preferable systems.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Regine Hengge (Department of Microbiology, HU Berlin), Prof. Dr. Markus Holzbach (HfG Offenbach)


Rasa Weber (Product Design // »Material Form Function«)

SYMBIOCEAN. Sympoïetic Design with/in troubled waters

In her thesis »SYMBIOCEAN« Rasa researches on the process of underwater mineral accretion and its symbiotic potential for the ecological formation of reef architectures. The system is inspired by the Biorock principle, which was developed by W. Hilbertz and T. Goreau in the 1970s. At the intersection of marine biology and design, she explores the notion of Interspecies Architecture with her practice-based and theoretical research on sympoietic design processes with human, animal and microbial actors in the ocean. By methods of attunement and design anthropological fieldwork, the project observe a new model for the cultivation of building materials as a sensitive and co-creative, multispecies design process. Design research methods for underwater environments are developed in collaboration with Jordan Lab - Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Karmen Franinović (ZHdK), Prof. Dr. Karin Harrasser (University of the Arts Linz), Claudia Mareis (Department of Cultural History and Theory, HU Berlin)

Babette Werner (Art & Visual History // »Object Space Agency«)

Strategies of (Re-)Staging Process-Based Art by Otto Piene within the Context of the 1960s

In her thesis, the art and visual historian Babette Werner researches the analog and digital (re-)stagings of process-based and inter-media art from the late 1950s until today and their potential for sustainable archival and curatorial practices. Werner explores the notion of an ecological aesthetic with her practice-based and theoretical research. At the intersection of art and visual history, conservation and media studies, the focus is put on artist Otto Piene, who experimented with natural phenomena, and light and slide installations. Two of Piene’s early performative and kinetic slide installations from the 1960s are selected as the main examples. In the hybrid performance and installation, The Proliferation of the Sun (1964/2014), hand-painted glass slides are the main component of the immersive work. For the installation Lichtballet “Hommage à New York” (1966/2016), colored glass slides are used selectively alongside diapositives. Both works within Piene’s typology of the light ballet are entangled through the use of similar materials such as hand-painted glass slides, carousel projectors, sound, textiles and kinetic light elements. Furthermore, due to conservation regulations, the slides can no longer be activated. For their (re-)stagings in 2014 and 2016, the fragile slides were elaborately reproduced in analog and digital form. Combined with other factors, the media transfers led to two different outcomes of display.

Werner’s thesis aims to close research gaps in Piene’s work and make an urgently needed contribution to the media-reflexive digitization of process-based art. The framework for this is the notion that (re-)staging—understood as an extended sculptural genre—can be made usable at the interplay between memory and imagination, both as an archival strategy and as a method of exhibition practice.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Claudia Blümle (Institute of Art and Visual History, HU Berlin), Prof. Dr. Stefan Neuner (University of the Arts Berlin).

Alumni

Michael Droste (Computer Science // »Symbolic Material«)

Visualisation and Interaction for High-Dimensional and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Virtual Reality

Immersive technologies like augmented and virtual reality hold immense potential in various fields of application, e.g. in cultural and educational environments. They allow the implementation of innovative concepts to interactively access and explore knowledge. Utilizing selected topics from the abstract field of modern theoretical physics and maths as case studies for educative prototypes, the research will assess the potential of immersive technologies with the aim of imparting knowledge and advancing the user’s understanding of the presented concepts. The implemented applications will focus on the interactive exploration and individual agency of users and evaluate the learning result in user studies. Through multiple studies different concepts of interaction and visualization will be examined and compared. The results of these studies will be used to extrapolate general best-practices for immersive applications that aim to impart knowledge.

Julien Letellier (Computer Science // »Filtering«)

Collaborative Prototyping for Augmented Reality: Authoring Tools and Case Studies for Cultural Applications

Prototyping interactive applications for mobile augmented reality (AR) poses several challenges. Many well-established prototyping techniques from interaction design cannot be easily transferred to AR and, since the AR industry is still evolving, there is a lack of authoring tools. In addition, many project teams in the cultural domain include several roles (e.g. domain experts, designers, programmers, management) and are highly multi-disciplinary.What kind of authoring tools are necessary for collaborative prototyping of AR applications in the cultural domain? What are appropriate design/prototyping methods? What are relevant filtering dimensions involved in the prototyping process and how do they affect the AR experience? This research examines and conducts a number of case studies to develop a new class of authoring tools that focuses on prototyping as filters of the design space and provides accessible user interfaces for different roles and disciplines.

Michael Tebbe (Media Informatics // »Filtering«)

In his PhD Michael studies the gap between non-technical experts and AI. By applying a human-centered approach to AI he hopes to build interactive user interfaces that enable nontechnical experts to better understand and actively shape AI systems.

Binru Yang (Lightweight Engineering // »Material Form Function«)

Study of Natural Tessellations, Design and Explore Novel Performances of Non-natural Evolved Tessellated System

In her thesis Binru starts from observing examples in nature, with the help of engineering and material science tool. We can not only verify certain form-function relationships existing already in nature, but also use the form variations in nature to explore other performances which haven’t yet been seen or evolved in nature. The geometric nature of tessellations makes them ideal for taking advantage of the many powerful modeling and characterization tools at the interface of engineering and biology: from parametric design for modeling, Finite element method to simulate structural static or dynamic performance, to computational modeling for mimicking kinematic behavior and machine learning for predicting images and patterns. These approaches afford a great chance to examine specific use-cases, but also to develop an exploration procedure to study more morphological variations of tessellations in nature and build off of this knowledge for framing new design approaches for manmade architectures.

Supervision: Prof. Dr. Dr. hc. Peter Fratzl (MPI), Prof. Dr. Mason Dean (City University of Hong Kong)