Abstract
Imagine if our structures (buildings, cities) or objects (medical prosthetics, clothes) could be grown, self-healed and have multiple properties (shape, textures, composition etc) tuned or adapted to meet fluctuating demands. This could significantly enhance how designs can be made increasingly bespoke, reduce associated waste (financial, pollution, resources) and could begin to enable materials to be shared or flexibly utilised. The research presented in this paper aims to develop multi-adaptive materials/structures and discusses the considerable role design research can play in this developing area of research. We present our pilot project, which aims to develop adaptive material samples for medical prosthetics applications. The project involved two main research activities, material prototyping and collaborative industry workshops. We focus on the workshop findings and present a framework for determining interrelationships between material properties, responses, user demands and implications as this is key to understanding how to develop transformative material systems and how to determine what constitutes as desirable material responses/associations. From this we then reflect on our research to date to open up key questions on the role design[ers] and design research[ers] play in maximising the potential of adaptive materials and aspirations within this field.
Keywords
Design Research; Processes and Innovation; Adaptive Materials; Sustainability; Collaborative Prototype Development
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2023.130
Citation
Fonseca Braga, M., Blaney, A., Ozkan, D., Pelit, E.,and Hardy, J.(2023) Adaptive Materials and The Role of Design[ers] (Research[ers]) in Shaping Transformative Futures, in Silvia Ferraris, Valentina Rognoli, Nithikul Nimkulrat (eds.), EKSIG 2023: From Abstractness to Concreteness – experiential knowledge and the role of prototypes in design research, 19–20 June 2023, Milan, Italy. https://doi.org/10.21606/eksig2023.130
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Adaptive Materials and The Role of Design[ers] (Research[ers]) in Shaping Transformative Futures
Imagine if our structures (buildings, cities) or objects (medical prosthetics, clothes) could be grown, self-healed and have multiple properties (shape, textures, composition etc) tuned or adapted to meet fluctuating demands. This could significantly enhance how designs can be made increasingly bespoke, reduce associated waste (financial, pollution, resources) and could begin to enable materials to be shared or flexibly utilised. The research presented in this paper aims to develop multi-adaptive materials/structures and discusses the considerable role design research can play in this developing area of research. We present our pilot project, which aims to develop adaptive material samples for medical prosthetics applications. The project involved two main research activities, material prototyping and collaborative industry workshops. We focus on the workshop findings and present a framework for determining interrelationships between material properties, responses, user demands and implications as this is key to understanding how to develop transformative material systems and how to determine what constitutes as desirable material responses/associations. From this we then reflect on our research to date to open up key questions on the role design[ers] and design research[ers] play in maximising the potential of adaptive materials and aspirations within this field.