Abstract
Transitional Materialities brings together research that understands materials not as static substances, but as dynamic agents embedded in ecological, technological, and socio-economic transitions. This perspective highlights the evolving relationship between material innovation, planetary health, and design’s capacity to mediate and guide change. The track explores how designers move beyond passive material selection to engage actively in experimentation, critical reflection, policy making and the development of alternative, resilient futures. Contributions address material inspiration, education, and archives as means to support knowledge sharing and open-access dissemination; they also map materials and practices across contexts, from rethinking traditional material values and local specificities to examining how such models may be adapted elsewhere. Other papers range from more rigorous forms of material characterisation to radical speculation. Collectively, the track foregrounds renewable, waste-derived, organic, interactive materials, and materials intelligence, alongside post-anthropocentric, community-driven, and circular imaginaries for transition towards regenerative futures.
Keywords
Transitional Materialities; Regenerative Design; Circular Design; Materials Design; Material Driven Design
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.136
Citation
Duarte Poblete, S.S., and Ayala-Garcia, C. (2026) Transitional Materialities, in Simeone, L., Gray, C. M., Verhoeven, A., de Götzen, A., Bakırlıoğlu, Y., Zohar, H., Stead, M., and Buwert, P. (eds.), DRS2026: Edinburgh, 8–12 June, Edinburgh, United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.136
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Transitional Materialities
Transitional Materialities brings together research that understands materials not as static substances, but as dynamic agents embedded in ecological, technological, and socio-economic transitions. This perspective highlights the evolving relationship between material innovation, planetary health, and design’s capacity to mediate and guide change. The track explores how designers move beyond passive material selection to engage actively in experimentation, critical reflection, policy making and the development of alternative, resilient futures. Contributions address material inspiration, education, and archives as means to support knowledge sharing and open-access dissemination; they also map materials and practices across contexts, from rethinking traditional material values and local specificities to examining how such models may be adapted elsewhere. Other papers range from more rigorous forms of material characterisation to radical speculation. Collectively, the track foregrounds renewable, waste-derived, organic, interactive materials, and materials intelligence, alongside post-anthropocentric, community-driven, and circular imaginaries for transition towards regenerative futures.