Abstract
This research demonstrates textiles as an analytical framework to encode forms of distributed intelligence inaccessible to computational modeling alone, challenging contemporary design's reliance on material homogeneity. Using 3D-printed Voronoi lattices on pre-stretched tulle substrates, we reconceptualize anisotropy (directional variation in material behavior) from engineering liability to design theory cornerstone. While conventional design favors isotropy for predictability, it has been long observed that biological textiles (skin, muscle tissue, tendons, spider silk, etc) have achieved adaptive functionality through engineered heterogeneity. By systematically varying infill patterns within Voronoi structures, we establish a methodology enabling textiles to hold contradictory mechanical states simultaneously and respond adaptively without centralized control. Pre-stretched substrates embody temporal duality, maintaining both tensioned and relaxed configurations without resolution. Beyond theoretical frameworks, anisotropy functions as organizational logic for adaptive architectures–envelopes remembering directional loads, facades expressing seasonal deformation, garments teaching posture through variable resistance, and kinetic surfaces communicating emotion through geometric transformation.
Keywords
Textile Thinking, New Materialism, Design Theory, Distributed Intelligence, Additive Manufacturing
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/drs.2026.1468
Citation
Agrawal, S., and Ko, J. (2026) Degree of anisotropy: A textile epistemology of making, 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.2026.1468
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Included in
Degree of anisotropy: A textile epistemology of making
This research demonstrates textiles as an analytical framework to encode forms of distributed intelligence inaccessible to computational modeling alone, challenging contemporary design's reliance on material homogeneity. Using 3D-printed Voronoi lattices on pre-stretched tulle substrates, we reconceptualize anisotropy (directional variation in material behavior) from engineering liability to design theory cornerstone. While conventional design favors isotropy for predictability, it has been long observed that biological textiles (skin, muscle tissue, tendons, spider silk, etc) have achieved adaptive functionality through engineered heterogeneity. By systematically varying infill patterns within Voronoi structures, we establish a methodology enabling textiles to hold contradictory mechanical states simultaneously and respond adaptively without centralized control. Pre-stretched substrates embody temporal duality, maintaining both tensioned and relaxed configurations without resolution. Beyond theoretical frameworks, anisotropy functions as organizational logic for adaptive architectures–envelopes remembering directional loads, facades expressing seasonal deformation, garments teaching posture through variable resistance, and kinetic surfaces communicating emotion through geometric transformation.