Weaving

Weaving and tissue are also of fundamental importance in microscopic worlds: bacterial cultures establish biofilms, i.e. multicellular collectives embedded in a dense extracellular matrix of interwoven nanofibers that protect against hostile environment (such as predators and antibiotics). These networks function as filters of environmental influences, but also regulate their own energy balance and establish a basal signaling system. Such material and symbolic tissues are challenging objects of research in molecular and cell biology as well as in medicine. In addition, structures and processes in microbial biofilms, can also inspire the design for »smart materials«.

Mathematics is also looking for new geometric descriptions of woven structures, from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale. The research within the project focuses on the tissue of the skin, but also on various traditional methods of basket weaving and the influence of the weaving method and the starting materials on the resulting properties and function. For example, mammalian skin establishes a permeable barrier between the inside and the outside of the body. The woven microstructure of the dead cells in the outer layer of skin allows the actuation of the skin as a filter in response to humidity. The skin is a matter of activity due to its structure. If one translates this interaction of material, form and function into the abstraction of a mathematical object, then one obtains a spatial structure of interwoven lines that is complicated, symmetric and chiral. So far, mathematics has not been able to describe and quantify such woven geometries in a useful way. But we need such a geometric characterization of spatial structures, because it is the language and the framework that enables an exchange between the disciplines. In nature, such complicated woven patterns are often constructed via templating onto two-dimensional hyperbolic membranes, with protein fibers growing onto the resulting scaffold. The woven geometry envisaged in the project is the means and prerequisite for a series of interdisciplinary experiments on woven, braided or knitted structures that bring together Biology, Material Sciences and Design, but also Anthropology and Cultural Studies.

The use of textiles in an Architecture and Design is rooted in an extensive technological and cultural history. Ancient vernacular textile architecture such as yurts and tents catered for the need of nomadic cultures for ephemeral, mobile and transportable shelters. Their membranous and lightweight character presents a soft and dynamic antidote to rigid and heavy structures, such as wood or stone architecture. In the project »Weaving« a new idea of softness and flexibility for Archi­tecture and building skins will be investigated, focusing on fibrous scaffolds and skins by emphasizing the process of construction in parallel to its result. The manufacture of fabric and its underlying logic of interlacing, interweaving, winding or felting offers a unique assembly principle with distinctive material continuity and the potential for structural, geometrical and performative variance throughout the surface. The behavior of the overall material is not only dependent on the textile construction method but similarly influenced by fiber and yarn properties. This unique hierarchical interdependence presents a Design challenge on multiple levels. Experimental objects in Materials Sciences as well as biological systems are being looked upon as role models. Biology offers myriad examples of fibrous materials where local material gradients and heterogeneous tissue generate highly efficient and optimized structures. They adapt over time according to their environment and local conditions and reconfigure their internal structure according to internal stresses. These underlying material strategies present a valuable source of inspiration which can inform the Design of contemporary textile materiality and novel tectonics: active fiber structures perform between rigidity and softness in nature and will be transferred into active material concepts for Design, Architecture and Engineering. The development of biologically inspired material systems allows for sustainable developments of efficient structures in the spatial-archi­tectural context.

The exchange processes that enable and regulate woven structures are both material flows and signaling processes. This applies from microbial biofilms to the field of anthropology. Thus, even before the invention of writing and numbers, weaving anticipated symbolic techniques. The weaver has to think ahead: from the binary movement of the weaving shuttle or crossing thread/weft (binary = above or below the vertical thread/warp), the result of the two-dimensional woven surface must be deduced. The structure, the pattern or the motif is calculated in advance with the help of binary decisions and by counting the threads—representing mathematical knowledge »avant la lettre«. The formation of patterns and motifs as well as the practices of spinning, knotting, braiding, crocheting, and knitting associated with weaving precede the development of writing and numbers, or form alternative paths, as in the »quipu«, the so-called talking knots. The woven and/or knotted structures encode knowledge and serve as a medium of communication (the etymology of »text« still knows about this relationship). Thus, the quipu creates social worlds.

From the biofilm to the cell structure of the skin to the social communities of the anthropos, weaving - as a material and symbolic practice as well as a regulating structure - contributes to the formation of networks. These collectives establish themselves by drawing a boundary between inside and outside that can be flexible or firm, but usually are semipermeable and selective. The cocoon manifests this function of weaving and woven structure (tissue, textile, fabric), whether as a biofilm, pupation, skin, tent or hut. »Weaving« investigates woven structures from the micro to the macro range, from organic or inorganic materials, from »nature« to »culture« and from material or symbolic factuality. Perspectives and objects come from the participating disciplines, i.e. Molecular Biology, Materials Sciences, Mathematics, Architecture, Design, Anthropology, Cultural Studies and Literary Studies, as well as from the collaborations with the projects Symbolic Material and Material Form Function. The different methods and analyses finally converge in the object and the function of the cocoon.