Abstract

Bio-inspired design techniques utilise or adapt natural components into designs or technologies to solve diverse challenges. This project focuses on the conceptualisation of the application of micro-level biological materials in furniture designs. Previous studies that investigated why designers incorporate biological materials into their designs informed the assessment of potential consumers’ perspective and opinion on designs incorporating biological materials following an emotional design approach. A survey involving over 200 participants revealed that biological materials closely related to biotechnology elicited significantly less positive emotional responses compared to more familiar household material, such as decorative plants. Therefore, this work explores new perspectives for creating furniture models based on biotechnology-related materials with the potential to improve their reputation, with a special focus on moss, fungi, algae and bacteria. For this purpose, we introduce a new conceptual model on biological materials in everyday designs which aided in constructing a new survey to study people’s emotional responses to biological materials. The evaluated conceptual model systematically informs then the design of five 3D furniture models inspired by microorganisms at 1) the mesoscopic and 2) the microscopic scale. Our research, evaluation and design approach adhere the “Double Diamond” design process model. We briefly discuss the associated design and construction workflows and conclude with a future outlook.

Keywords

conceptual model; bio-inspired design; bio visualisation; bio materials

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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Oct 9th, 9:00 AM

From Bio-inspired Design to Microbiology-inspired Design: a Conceptual Model-based Case Study on biological Materials informed by Emotions

Bio-inspired design techniques utilise or adapt natural components into designs or technologies to solve diverse challenges. This project focuses on the conceptualisation of the application of micro-level biological materials in furniture designs. Previous studies that investigated why designers incorporate biological materials into their designs informed the assessment of potential consumers’ perspective and opinion on designs incorporating biological materials following an emotional design approach. A survey involving over 200 participants revealed that biological materials closely related to biotechnology elicited significantly less positive emotional responses compared to more familiar household material, such as decorative plants. Therefore, this work explores new perspectives for creating furniture models based on biotechnology-related materials with the potential to improve their reputation, with a special focus on moss, fungi, algae and bacteria. For this purpose, we introduce a new conceptual model on biological materials in everyday designs which aided in constructing a new survey to study people’s emotional responses to biological materials. The evaluated conceptual model systematically informs then the design of five 3D furniture models inspired by microorganisms at 1) the mesoscopic and 2) the microscopic scale. Our research, evaluation and design approach adhere the “Double Diamond” design process model. We briefly discuss the associated design and construction workflows and conclude with a future outlook.

 

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