Being by Design

A Vignette: Neri Oxman, her Aguahoja project and her impact

Aguahoja I

Photo Credit: Dezeen

Neri Oxman is a visionary.

The MIT Associate Professor of Media Arts and Sciences at the MIT Media Lab’s break-throughs in ecology-centric and material-centric design continue to create inspiring avenues for a more sustainable future. Oxman's mission to mimic the natural process of creation, moreover growing and adapting, breathes hope into an alignment of humans and Earth and perhaps may even have the power necessary to transition us out of our ecologically harmful Anthropocene epoch. 

Oxman's latest project in partnership with her team from the Mediated Matter Group at MIT, The Aguahoja is a series of three digitally designed biopolymer pavilions robotically fabricated using abundantly existent molecular materials from trees, apples, insect exoskeletons and human bones. 

The three Aguahoja structures stand at 5 meters tall and are made of varied thicknesses and flexibility from biocomposites such as cellulose, chitosan, pectin, and calcium carbonate. MIT states that, "These materials are then combined and compounded to produce broad ranging biodegradable composites with mechanical, chemical, and optical functional properties across length scales ranging from millimeters to meters.These water shaped skin-like structures ("hojas") are designed and manufactured as if they were grown; no assembly is required." 

Aguahoja II

Design Inspired by Trees - Photo Credit: Dezeen

We are 50% water.

Oxman explains that in the natural world water shapes the growth of elements working to guide and assemble molecules based on complex structural hierarchies, patterns, needs and compositions. By contrast, in human-made design we tend to construct form, solutions and patterns based off of geometries in separation from composition. Essentially, man-made structures are built by artificial, inanimate materials to serve a finite purpose that are incapable of adaption. In nature, single-material biological forms have the ability to adapt their chemical makeup in relation to surrounding environmental changes resulting in variable-property gradients throughout the structure. By developing models inspired by the water-based biopolymer materials and amalgamating them within the structural parameters for fabrication instructions and processes it is possible to begin to redesign built structures as if they were ecologically grown.

Entropy - what is grown must decay - what is composed must decompose. Oxman is particularly interested in the deterioration of the Aguahoja projects and refers to this study as decay by design. Nature is built to be born and to die, however most often human-made structures do not consider decaying and moreover do not examine the ecological ramifications of resiliency to decay. All Aguahoja designs are grown to deconstruct in water. 

This coming February the decomposition process of Aguahoja I will be measured carefully via the calories transference of decaying. The structure will be set on a rooftop terrace at SFMOMA and fully exposed to the elements. A "calorie clock" will measure the elements and the rate of calorie burn (the initial calorie total of the Aguahoja I is 40,000) and moreover will take those metrics to deduce how much of that energy has been given back to the surrounding plant ecology of the building. The aim is to lead Oxman and her team to further findings of the impact and opportunities for  designing structures to decay and additionally lead to a public cultivation of appreciation for the process of decaying itself. 

Aguahoja III

“How we can redesign our built structures as if they were grown” - Photo Credit: Dezeen

There is much to say about Oxman's Aguahoja project and perhaps a blog post doesn't quite allow adequate space or weight to illustrate the project's depth and genius. 

Neri Oxman's work on the Aguahoja pavilions directly relate to increased interest in ecology-centric design and sustainable practices. With mounting global concern for climate change, the modern designer now plays a direct and critical role ideating ways to halt, reverse and protect the damages caused by human beings. It is a moral calling. What I thoroughly admire about Oxman's work is her seamless integration of robotics with nature. Whereas the future of AI may be a threatening topic to theorize, Oxman's stimulation of robotics to become additive to the assimilation of man and nature eases the anxieties of AI leading to human self destruction. Human sentience has arguably been the marker of design since the discovery of fire, however stepping outside of our own centrism reveals innumerable sentient beings designing our world with a far superior enduring elasticity. 

Oxman's rise to fame in recent years is in part due to  her excellence and unprecedented projects and is supported by her relationship with MIT, related articles in the news media, her episode on Netflix's Abstract series and her own personal promotion on social media. This integrated communication strategy reaches an audience of colleagues and touches the hearts and minds of design-centric planet protectors. Much her work is reported on niche platforms however I argue it would be advantageous for her to develop a voice to share with the masses and not just a like-minded audience. Her innovations are hopeful and have the power to spark others to join her mindset and mission. 

I also wonder what additional applications her hypothesis may relate to beyond research and art installations. My hope is that her work will spark practical relevance and will be transposed into a varied and broad array of ventures. How might decomposition speak to the innovation behind clothing… technology… cars?

Sources: https://www.media.mit.edu/projects/aguahoja/overview/ - https://www.dezeen.com/2021/11/19/neri-oxman-aguahoja-iii-pavilion-robotically-fabricated/